More on “Not Getting It”
This is literally the reference I was looking for last night. From Jonathan Alter, via Mike Allen:
Obama said that the unanimous House vote against the Recovery Act ‘set the tenor for the whole year’: ‘That helped to create the tea-baggers and empowered that whole wing of the Republican Party to where it now controls the agenda for the Republicans.’ For Obama this was the greatest surprise of 2009. ‘[It wasn’t that] I thought that my political outreach and charm would immediately end partisan politics,’ the president said. ‘I just thought that there would be enough of a sense of urgency that at least for the first year there would be an interest in governing. And you just didn’t see that.’ …
I basically agree, but again, I think this was naive on Obama’s part. I find it hard to believe that there weren’t more people in the congressional GOP who knew the stimulus was necessary. Fact is, as long as Franken got seated, it was going to get passed. So why not act like it; instead of wasting time negotiating for three measly votes in the Senate, let alone waste time in the House. How could you not know this would be the strategy? I’m not saying the bill should have been entirely partisan, but the message should have been out there—this is passing whether you like it or not. If you have something you want in there, we’re going to need your vote.
Also, the president said tea-bagger.
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Tags: mike allen, nro, Obama, playbook, Politico, stimulus, the corner
if tea-bagger=the N word, as one leader suggests, Obama can still say it, although Reverend Al wouldn’t approve.