Saved By Zero

Sorry for the title... really...

So, zero Republicans in the House voted for the stimulus package. This comes as no surprise to much of liberal blogistan, as we all yelled* at how idiotic it was for Obama to include so many tax cuts and cave to so much Republican whining (e.g., family planning funds, funds devoted to upgrading the National Mall) because it wouldn't result in any Republican votes. And, indeed, Obama's efforts at "bipartisanship" resulted in zero House GOP votes.

But I'm wondering if the House GOP hasn't just played themselves right into Obama's hands. Obama was swepped in on "change" which the media widely interpreted as meaning an end to partisan rancor (although there's little evidence in his actual rhetoric to suggest that's explicitly what he meant). Well what happens if, during the signing ceremony Obama makes a speech, saying that he tried very hard to include Republicans... he didn't want it to be so tax cut heavy, he didn't want to cut funds tied to family planning, he didn't want to eliminate the funds for the National Mall, but he did it all because of Republican objections. But the GOP was more interested in scoring political points than in negotiating in good faith. Despite going in person to Capitol Hill to talk to congressional Republicans, they still refused to make any compromise, and voted unanimously against this vitally important stimulus bill because it wasn't exactly the bill they demanded. Try as he might, uber-popular President Obama can't work with Congressional Republicans because they aren't willing to work with him.

I certainly wouldn't be surprised if Obama were able to use this vote result as an opportunity to turn the Village's bipartisan obsession against the GOP and to his benefit, giving him and the Dems cover to enact whatever legislation they want regardless of bipartisan cover. And I wouldn't be surprised if that was his plan all along.


* Some even wrote blog posts about it! Not me, of course, but still...