Politics Of Dancing

Over at Hullabaloo, Digby takes a look at the Congressional reaction to Obama's stimulus package.

I can't imagine why Obama should be having any problems with any Democrat on a stimulus package, unless they honestly are too stupid to understand the scope of the problem or are so reflexively conservative that they blurt out Republican cant without even considering what they are saying. But they are Blue Dogs, so I suppose that both of these things are true.

Replacing them should really be Obama's top priority, along with Harry Reid. Nancy is still bad, but at least she seems to understand her friggin job is to get Obama's stuff passed to try to save the country from a ten-year depression.

The Republican response to the speech this morning was instructive. They agreed to work with the president on a stimulus as long as it isn't as big as it needs to be, as long as it consists of more tax cuts than spending, and as long as those tax cuts don't just go to the middle class and poor but are also more tilted to business and wealthy investors.

So, the markers have been laid down and any compromise to get to 80 votes will have to be somewhere between the plan Obama floated and these Republican parameters.

And once again, Obama appears to be playing to lose. Only problem is, he's not the one who will ultimately lose.

Why are we worrying about what the Republicans think at this point? Why are they controlling the narrative in Washington when there is a Democrat on his way to the White House in less than two weeks, and Democrats running the entire Congress?

Pardon my French, but when Obama seems to be bowing and scraping and doing the "yassa, massa" thing to the friggin GOP, it really, really pisses me off.

Lead like you won the election, Barry.

[UPDATE] And the Village Idiots are already snickering at Poor Barry Who Can't Control His Own Party.

One high-level Democrat with strong ties to Feinstein, who spoke on condition of anonymity, characterized the senator's statements on Panetta this week as "a show of strength, a brush-back pitch, from a powerful chair who can be helpful or hurtful" to Obama.

"She feels strongly about protocol," Feinstein's friend said. "As chair of the Intelligence Committee, she expected a courtesy call, especially if it was going to be outside the norm."

"If she did not respond with a show of strength, she'd be seen as weak," the insider said. "This is not the time for weak leaders. And she is not the kind of wallflower that would simply turn the other cheek with this kind of offense."

The more I see, the more I am convinced that the Democrats are going to be the ones that wreck Obama's agenda, not the Republicans. At this point, the GOP just has to show up and keep their mouths shut, and watch Feinstein, Conyers, Reid, and Pelosi take turns tearing him down while the country burns.

Lest we forget, the same powerful Democrats we're counting on now are the same Democrats who failed to do the right thing again and again and again over the last 8 years. It's not that they didn't want to stand up to Bush...it's because most of them thought Bush and the GOP were right all along.