Analysts wonder whether the Republican Party's united opposition to the stimulus bill in the House is a calculated (and perhaps miscalculated) effort to position themselves as the party of responsibility if the economy does not pick up in the near future:
Eight days after Barack Obama took office as a "change" president, House Republicans have made a huge political gamble that could set the tone for the next election cycle.
In unanimously opposing the massive spending bill that Obama says is crucial to reviving the economy, they signaled they are not cowed by his November win or his calls for a new era of bipartisanship. Obama's popularity will slacken, they say, and even it doesn't voters will reward a party that makes principled stands for restrained spending and bigger tax cuts.
Democratic officials think Republicans are misreading Americans' hunger for action. And if they are right, the GOP could face a third round of election setbacks next year.
Part of the Republicans' complaint is that the stimulus package includes support for liberal causes, which they argue will do nothing to stimulate the economy:
Republicans' biggest complaint is that the package is loaded with items that they say seem more likely to promote liberal agendas than to stimulate the economy in the short run. They include $1 billion for the Census Bureau and money to combat Avian flu and help people stop smoking.
With such items being highlighted, "it's becoming an easier 'no' vote for all us," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in an interview Thursday.
Many Republican lawmakers feel they were stampeded into voting last fall for a $700 billion financial bailout measure that proved unpopular with voters and of questionable benefit, Graham said. They worry that the stimulus bill might have a similar fate.
"Who wants to own an $850 billion increase in the national debt," Graham said, "not knowing whether it will work?"
The obvious problem for them is that if does work, they will have nothing substantive to run on in 2010. And even if it doesn't there's no reason to assume that a majority of the American public will accept the inevitable argument that the stimulus failed because of their unwillingness to tackle the problem seriously.
While they are at it, Obama is playing it calm and steady and almost certainly hoping to convince the vital moderate center of America that he is making bold but sensible decisions, if he wins, then this segment of the population--the one's that may have cast their tentative first vote for a Democrat in a generation this past November--might fully jump to his camp. Playing above politics is the best political game of them all.
It's a Hail Mary pass in my opinion. They are gambling it all on the first vote. It'll be fun to watch, assuming we survive it all.
