Tuesday, February 17, 2009
After Stimulus Battle, Liberals Press Obama
Now that Obama’s economic stimulus bill has passed the House and Senate and been signed into law, something still remains in Washington. Democrats within the legislature are hoping that as Obama moves into other areas of policy, such as health care and energy, that he will be able to firmly stand his ground with the Republicans. And not leave the vote up to a few centrist senators. While most Democrats are happy that the stimulus bill passed, they are saddened that the bill was cut back. They feel the original bill would have done a better job at firming up our economy’s foundation. They hope that in the future Obama will take a more active role in drafting legislation.
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That is a good article. I think it summarizes the current situation in Washington. There were three vocal groups: liberal Democrats, conservative Republicans, and centrists. Unfortunately for the White House, the Senate is not overrun with liberal Democrats, so he has to give a little to the centrists and as a result nobody on the fringes will be overwhelmingly excited about what gets passed.
ReplyDeleteOn a related-but-not point, his domestic agenda is huge and to get it passed he will need to do a significant amount of heavy lifting if not within his first 100 days, certainly within his first year. But do you think if the economic bleeding clots (maybe not subsides, but becomes stagnant) by November 2010 the Democrats will be in a position to declare the GOP as the party of "NO" and reach 60 Senate seats? I know we are more than a year out, but the map looks good for the Dems. For instance, Republicans have AT LEAST 5 open seats (3 in states Obama won and a 4th where he almost won) they will need to defend.
Then after 2010, he can ramp up his 1st term agenda and get a significant portion of it passed.
I guess I just don't see liberal Democrats getting what they REALLY want without moderate support. Particularly important are the 3 Senate Republicans who were with him on the stimulus.