Trouble In HopeAndChangeLand?
Based on this article in Politico, there’s signs that HopeAndChange is meeting its first bit of resistance. Here’s what’s causing the pushback:
Pelosi used a Fox News appearance Sunday to break with the president-elect on two key issues: the fate of President George W. Bush’s tax cuts for families earning $250,000 or more and the possibility of congressional investigations into the actions of Bush administration officials.
While Pelosi’s words showed that she and Obama don’t always agree on matters of policy, the signal they sent was more important: Yes, you can use the media to speak straight to the public.
But so can I — and I will when you’re invading my turf.
“She trusts him greatly because they share the same agenda and vision, but she always keeps the interests of the caucus in mind,” said a top House Democratic aide. “She has to move the process forward and is extremely strategic.”
It’s foolish to think that this will lead to a big implosion within the Democratic Party. I’d be stunned if it came to that. What’s more likely is that an Obama administration will frequently defer to Ms. Pelosi and Sen. Reid. Entrusting your political well-being to the most tone-deaf pair of partisan politicians isn’t wise.
One thing that I can’t imagine happening, though, is an Obama administration sitting silent on the issue of investigating the Bush administration. That’s a political and PR disaster for Democrats. Investigating the Bush administration at this time will be seen as motivated by vindictiveness and pettiness.
It would also signal that Congress isn’t focusing enough attention on the economy. Americans demand that Congress right our economic ship ASAP. Spending time on partisan witchhunts won’t sit well with most people, though it would excite the Lunatic Left.
This section of the article sounds like Ms. Pelosi will cause President Obama to walk the tightrope some of the time:
At the moment, such a rift seems unlikely between Pelosi and Obama, who have a good personal relationship and are in virtual lock step ideologically on issues ranging from Iraq to health care reform.
But this isn’t the first time that Pelosi has bristled when she thought Team Obama was going too far. In a private conversation after the election, the speaker told Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s White House chief of staff and her former deputy, that he should butt out of House Democrats’ business.
Pelosi’s willingness to go public with her disagreement reflects the new realities imposed on Washington by Obama himself. The new president, whose approval rating is north of 70 percent, has exhibited an impressive capacity to speak directly to voters through broadcast media and the Internet. Pelosi, staffers argue, needs to go public just to keep pace, and to protect her power.
“Her main goal in all of this is to defend the House’s prerogatives,” a Democratic aide said.
This wouldn’t be the first time that something started as a mild disagreement and built into a larger disagreement. The dirty little secret is that Ms. Pelosi knows that Congress’s agenda won’t match the Obama administration’s because the House’s next election is 22 months away whereas President Obama’s next election is 46 months away.
Ms. Pelosi knows that she must keep the Nutroots satisfied. She knows that President Obama can’t be the ideologue that the Nutroots want. Ms. Pelosi also knows that the Democrats’ election success hinges on satisfying the Nutroots’ ideological demands.
It’ll be interesting to see how each chapter of this unfolds. Rest assured that I’ll be watching intently.
Technorati Tags: Congress, Nancy Pelosi, John Conyers, Investigations, Nutroots, Obama Adminsitration, Election 2010
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog