Obama pulls a Jeb Bartlett

I am referencing here the real life President doing today what President Jeb Bartlett did on West Wing.  President Obama went to the Hill today to attempt to attract more Republicans to his stimulus package that will soon come up for a vote.  Several political bloggers and television commentators have asked what Obama has to gain from this move.  Many believe that he has the votes to pass the package today.  That may be true in the House, but Obama does need the Blue Dog Dems in order to pass his stimulus bill.  The Senate is tight, but the Dems have a majority there and would probably pick up a few Republicans.  Basically, I think Obama has the votes.  So why is he meeting with the Republicans and giving them an opportunity to paint the Congressional Dems as partisan and bitter?

I assume that Obama is not a fool.  He has long stated that he wants to cut the partisan rancor in Congress.  He was clear today that he knows there will be a time for partisan politics according to emails from inside the meeting, and he joked about the criticism coming on Fox News.  It is clear that Obama knows there is going to be a fight.  It is clear he will win.  The question for OBama is, how much will I listen to the Republicans?  

This meeting on the Hill and the courting of Republicans is the keeping of a campaign promise to be more bipartisan.  Make no mistake, this spirit of listening and bipartisan friendliness will not stop Obama and the Dems from passing this package as is.  Obama will turn around and say, "I listened, I offered tax cuts and the Republicans wouldn't budge.  I care more about the people of the United States, than I do about being friendly.  This stimulus is the right thing to do, and we are going to do it."  

The real question here is what do the Republicans hope to gain from this?  So few of them are fiscal conservatives.  They give money away, Bush style, every year.  They are great tax-cut and spend conservatives.  Our deficit ballooned under a Republican President, not under Clinton.  When it didn't balloon it was due to a bipartisan aim and balancing the budget.  The best strategy for the Republicans is to go along with this, maximize the tax cut, and claim some responsibility for the good the stimulus does.  That is a gamble that will help restore public confidence in the party of McCain and Bush.  Of course, they are too "principled" for that kind of thing.  Funny, they weren't so principled when they were voting to send money to Iraq.  There are no more cowboys in the Republican party, save Tom Coburn.  They ought to give it a rest.