It looks like the “stimulus” package coming out of DC is going to be a pure Democrat bill, not the bipartisan legislation some folks were talking about. Whether this is the bill Obama wanted and thus represents “the greatest head fake ever” from the Obama team (as some commentators think) or whether it represents a victory for hard-left Congressional Democrats over the incoming administration’s centrist economic team is unclear at this point; but it really doesn’t matter. On the first major vote of the next two years, it’s already crystal clear that bipartisanship is clean out the window. How Barack Obama responds will tell us whether his apparent move to the center will follow it.
Reading the article, one could also argue that the Democrats are simply doing what a majority of Americans prefer – spending on job-creation directly, rather than further are-you-kidding-me Republican corporate tax cuts.
At least they’re throwing the actual human American citizens a bone by proposing an income tax cut that is half as large as what the corporations get…
Honestly, I think sometimes Republicans are a caricature of themselves.
I also think its clear that Obama is limited in how bipartisan he can actually be. As much as the President’s power has exploded in the past 7 years, the President still doesn’t actually pass legislation. And the Congress is pretty divided, having just gone through a turnover driven entirely by what appears to be massive Republican-fatigue in the American populace…
I certainly agree with your last paragraph (except that I don’t think the power of the executive has come anywhere near “exploding”). Obviously, the Democrats don’t have to make even a gesture to the center if they don’t want to.