Overusing Obama

There is a tipping point somewhere in Barack Obama's media blitz on behalf of the stimulus bill that could damage his presidency beyond the immediate struggle to get legislation on his desk by next week.

The President is staking his hard-won mandate on a complicated, extravagant answer to national fear with an iffy argument: "Let's not make the perfect the enemy of the essential. Let's show people all over our country who are looking for leadership in this difficult time that we are equal to the task."

Welcoming Republican participation and serving them oatmeal cookies, Obama is offering himself in the role of a peacemaking warrior, and opinion polls are beginning to reflect that contradiction with doubts about rolling the dice for almost $1 trillion when no one is sure of what will and won't work in reviving the economy.

Moreover, the new President, as unBushlike as he can be, is nevertheless trying to persuade a public that is still reeling from the White House certitude that took us into Iraq. Change has come to Washington, but skepticism about political leadership is far from dead.

The encouraging news today is that, as the President continues his media offensive, there are bipartisan Senate efforts to examine the bill line by line and pare down and strip away dubious measures.

"So we have a choice to make," the President writes in a Washington Post OpEd. "We can once again let Washington's bad habits stand in the way of progress. Or we can pull together and say that in America, our destiny isn't written for us but by us. We can place good ideas ahead of old ideological battles, and a sense of purpose above the same narrow partisanship. We can act boldly to turn crisis into opportunity and, together, write the next great chapter in our history and meet the test of our time."

The rhetoric is inspiring, but voters will be forgiven for wanting this time to read all the fine print before going into battle. The Obama who campaigned on the issue of Change should expect no less.

The Bipartisan Tango

The Washington air is filled with fake piety as Republican survivors of 2008 try to feign amity with a popular president and vote against him by making villains out of Congressional Democrats.

In the House, they lined up unanimously against the stimulus bill, despite more schmoozing with Barack Obama than any recent president, while blaming Nancy Pelosi for their disaffection.

Pointing out Obama's belief that "economic recovery is about psychology as well as money and that Americans will have more confidence in the future if they see the nation's politicians cooperating to resolve the crisis," E. J. Dionne Jr. notes in the Washington Post:

"If achieving bipartisanship takes priority over the actual content of policy, Republicans are handed a powerful weapon. In theory, they can keep moving the bipartisan bar indefinitely. And each concession to their sensibilities threatens the solidarity in the president's own camp."

The test will come this week in the Senate, where the bipartisan tango will be less robotic as real bargaining beyond posturing begins. The battles will be over increasing infrastructure spending, government-backed low-interest mortgages and how to target tax cuts, among other issues. (Nostalgia note: John McCain is still railing about pork.)

Meanwhile, legislators in both parties are still trying to parse the Obama definition of bipartisanship, Democrats worrying about weakening their agenda, Republicans questioning how much of it is window dressing.

Rep. Zack Wamp, who headed Fred Thompson's ill-fated primary effort, may have summed up the GOP position best: "We got the sense that he was very genuine," he says. But if Obama "comes and meets with us like that and it doesn't have an impact, it begins to hurt his credibility."

In times like these, presidential credibility counts more than ever.

Obama's First Week

Here is what we know after seven days of Change:

(1) The new president is aggressively attacking the economic downturn and, though perhaps too eager to make tax-cut concessions to roll up a bipartisan score, is realizing that nothing will appease Republican know-nothings and, as a result, showing some signs of toughening up in getting a stimulus bill passed without delay.

(2) Though there is much that can be done by executive fiat, it will take longer and be more complicated to make good on campaign promises to close Guantanamo (without freeing Al Qaeda terrorists) and get troops out of Iraq without endangering stability.

(3) His ambition and self-confidence are huge. In making his first phone call to Palestinian President Abbas and giving his first exclusive interview to an Arab TV network, Obama is signaling a change not only in Middle East policy but US attitude toward engaging the rest of the world, insisting that “the Americans are not your enemy.”

He is telling them, "I cannot respect terrorist organizations that would kill innocent civilians and we will hunt them down. But to the broader Muslim world what we are going to be offering is a hand of friendship.”

All this is leaving him open to attacks for being naïve, reckless or worse but, in the first week of America After Bush, government is beginning to look like it might possibly be (pace Ronald Reagan) more like the answer than the problem.

So far, so good with 207 weeks to go in Barack Obama's first term.

Obama Says No to the Party of No

At the White House today, the President made it clear that his Inaugural message to Muslims "on the wrong side of history"--that "we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist"--applies to Congressional Republicans as well.

Responding to Rep. Eric Cantor's objection to the proposal to increase benefits for low-income workers who don't owe federal income taxes, Obama reminded him of the November election results. "I won," he said. "I trump you on that."

He also suggested to Cantor, John Boehner, Jon Kyl and other leaders of the GOP's negative wing, "You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done."

Eager as Obama is for bipartisan support for his efforts to prop up the economy and the financial system, these are the first small signs that he may be willing to take some lessons from the Rahm Emanuel school of political hardball.

In the Senate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had a near-death experience in the November balloting, seems to have gotten the memo.

“I realize," he said today, 'that if you told most people Mitch McConnell was down at the National Press Club hoping for bipartisanship, they’d tell you that’s like an insurance agent hoping for an earthquake. Most people don’t exactly view me as the Mr. Rogers of the Senate.”

But, he added, “Everybody believes that government action is necessary. This is coming out of the mouth of someone who doesn’t normally advocate government action as a first resort.”

This could be a reality check for the National Republican Congressional Committee, which is announcing on its web site: "Thanks to Republican economic policies, the U.S. economy is robust and job creation is strong."

If the GOP is to avoid becoming the irrelevant Party of No, they will have to get real at their annual retreat in the resort of Hot Springs, Va. next week as they pick a new chairman, while mingling with lobbyists who are paying $25,000 a head for the privilege.

Otherwise, their party may turn out to be as "robust" as the economy.