In his dealings with
Republicans in his first term Obama was cold and naïve. Now, he’s cold and
nasty.
He used to phone their
leaders and ask them to stand up to the Tea Party. They’d put the phone on
mute. Now, he calls press conferences to remind them that he won the last election.
Republicans listen; the quiet ones seethe, the freer spirits howl at the moon.
In a series of statements,
he’s taunted Congress to act “promptly” on contentious issues and apologized to
the American people for Congress’ “games”. On the appointment of his Defense
Secretary, on Senate filibusters, on the debt ceiling, gun controls, immigration
reform, and further tax revenues and reform, he’s annoyed Republicans and
worried centrists who pine for more discreet negotiations at their next cliff-side
rendezvous.
Obama’s new chivy style is
well documented in this morning’s Politico by
Glenn Thrush and Reid J. Epstein. (They concentrate on legislative tactics and
set aside the more interesting possibility that Obama is actually indulging
himself, after four years of biting his lip.
But, let’s leave emotion
speculation to history and Bob Woodward.)
In his first term, Obama tried to generate
bi-partisanship by personal example--being more restrained and more open to
compromise than anyone else in town.
Some say that Obama was on
the right track but needed to be more ‘accessible’.
Political folklore instructs
that the positive half of Lyndon Johnson’s Presidency was secured by his big
bear, sweaty, tactile ways with other men.
Temperamentally, that style isn’t available to Obama. And in any event--in
all honesty--is America actually ready for its first black president to throw
his weight around like a backslapping pol?
Obama appears to have taken
away a different message from the mid-Sixties legislative accomplishments of
Johnson: a president can get conservative and liberal careerists in Congress to
go along with him when they fear that they will miss the parade--and appear
out-of-date and extreme.
Most elected politicians stop
being brave when they stop being called “brave” back home, and start being
called irresponsible. That’s what got a
$600 billion income tax increase the support of over a third of the Republican
House of Representative on January 1st.
That tribal impulse, fortunately,
helped pass civil rights legislation though, unfortunately, it also helped finance
the build up of the War in Vietnam. It’s not a gentle way of making progress.
But, Obama has got the parade moving and clearly wants to keep moving.
His provocations, so far, probably
help.
As the more temperamental
members of the Republican caucus react to Obama’s teasing and pander to their
most radical supporters, the harder it will be for mainstream Republicans to
resist Obama's legislative and fiscal proposals.
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