Still My Way Or The Highway For Pelosi

Did I say something nice about Nancy Pelosi yesterday? Allow me to take it back. Yes, I said she was "mending fences" and "taking a placating tone."

Not so much. Pretty much the moment word came out of the Senate that a deal on the stimulus had been reached, and enough GOP Senators swayed to the side of passage, she's at it again. Note that I believe the dial was turned way up on the rancor over this bill by her refusal to allow regular House rules to come to order, and for this bill to receive the daylight and due process a trillion dollar appropriations bill should get.

So, Pelosi says, "I'll restore regular rules once this stimulus bill is passed." This should be read: once I get my way, I'll throw you a bone. So, the bill passes the House. No regular rules. The Senate indicates they have reach a passable agreement, and Pelosi is already threatening to ruin it by reinserting everything the opponents of the bill hate. President Obama has called for this legislation to be on his desk by Friday the 13th. I don't see regular order in the House any time soon. And Pelosi has already let her favorite attack dog, David Obey off the chain.

I honestly don't know what kind of game Pelosi thinks she is playing. She's not doing herself any favors with anyone at this point, except her personal amen chorus of Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. Note that when Hoyer tried to advocate on behalf of Democratic House members asking for normal rules to be resumed, Pelosi quickly brought him to toe. The party line in the House is not the party line any more, it's the Pelosi line. Now that it appears the stimulus bill will be bounced back to the House for a joint conference session, the President has to protect his hard-fought-for bill from the meddling of his own party. All of this could have been avoided if Pelosi had allowed regular rules to resume in the House at the onset of the 111th Congress, which she gave a clear sign she had no intention of doing with her first edict. Pelosi and Obama have both jibed the GOP with comments about how "we won," and it looks more every day like rubbing salt in the wound is more important than actually getting anything done. Of course, the GOP isn't acting much better or more mature, but would you? If someone was constantly scoffing at your failures, telling you what a wreck you made of things and systematically destroying your ability to get anything done, and shutting you out of a process you have legal right and imperative to participate in? News flash, Nancy: we are still a two-party government. The GOP didn't get fired in November, and if you're not careful, you'll be lucky to be House Minority Leader by 2010.

Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy... or business as usual?

I just had a "duh," moment.

I read the news every day, and I research a good deal of what I read. I consider myself not only intelligent, but subtle. Regardless, it just occurred to me that the economic stimulus that is being ping-ponged around Washington right now is the front for the Democratic takeover of government.

Watching the House Appropriations Committee markup session on C-SPAN, allow me to rescind some of what I said about the "new feel-good Washington." House Republicans do not feel good about this bill. I have to hand it to 'em, they've got some very valid points. Chiefly, some GOP members are pointing out that the bill before the House contains no bipartisan oversight, as the officers in charge of executing the bill are all appointed by the President. Republican after Republican is standing up and complaining that there is not enough oversight, not enough internal monitoring, insufficient fiscal reporting, and no opportunity for sub-committee meetings on portions directly connected to those committees.

To the victor goes the spoils, indeed. Rep. David Obey (D-WI), Chair of the House Appropriations Committee is barely concealing his desire to see the discussion halted. David Brooks, at the New York Times today, described Obey as, "...a very compelling figure, who would be a judge on 'American Idol' if this were hell. He runs the committee like Captain Ahab in a bad mood." Speaker Pelosi is defending the GOP shut-out on terms of necessity, which I agree with, but her demeanor is so combative, it makes her seen patronizing to the GOP at best. On Inauguration Day, Obey was whipping up panic for the bill, indicating that he believed $825 Billion dollars might not be sufficient, and pressing for the bill to be passed to "stave off the worst aspects of the recession." While I believe all sides agree on the urgency of the bill, I question such shrill panic. Mid-February is the deadline assigned by the President, which means three weeks or thereabouts; there's time for a lot of meetings.

If any one issue can be pointed to as the tipping point for Obama's campaign it was his economic platform. Although Obama led in the polls fairly consistently throughout the campaign, he generally underperformed, and after the Republican National Convention, McCain passed him in the polls as much as 10 points, long enough to be reason for panic. Only when the economy tanked hard in late September did Obama regain a winning margin. Getting his economic plan signed into law, early, and with a perceived strong bipartisan support, will be a benchmark for Obama. His first radio address as President focussed almost in total on the economy. Speaker Pelosi is saying again that there will be "no recess" for Congress until the bill is passed. At the same time, Dems are spinning out lowered expectations, just in case. Mid-term elections are two years off, and we will have seen durable reverberations from the Stimulus Bill by then. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are conscious of this, which is why the GOP is preaching caution and the Democrats are... well, preaching, mostly to the choir, as is apparent if you actually watch the discussions.