Ready-for-Disaster Republicans
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
WashPost
Monday, January 26, 2009
Beneath the warm pledges of bipartisanship and the earnest calls for cooperation in the midst of a grave crisis lurks an unpleasant fact: From the moment it loses power, the opposition party turns to the task of getting it back.
Party politics has not been suspended. It has just become more subtle. Republicans are already testing lines of attack against President Obama and laying down markers that will allow them to say they warned us -- if Obama fails. In the meantime, Obama is already countering with quiet moves to broaden his political coalition.
When opponents of abortion rallied in Washington's streets last week, Obama did not offer a simple restatement of his support for abortion rights. Instead, his first response to the subject as president coupled his support for legal abortion with a call for "common ground." He urged action "to prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce the need for abortion, and support women and families in the choices they make."
The consensual tone on this divisive issue reflects intense behind-the-scenes lobbying by Obama's religious supporters, who asked him to put off for at least a day his executive order ending the ban on federal funds for groups involved in abortions overseas. The symbolism of the delay suggested that Obama intends to continue to poach constituencies that were once reliably Republican.
(More here.)
WashPost
Monday, January 26, 2009
Beneath the warm pledges of bipartisanship and the earnest calls for cooperation in the midst of a grave crisis lurks an unpleasant fact: From the moment it loses power, the opposition party turns to the task of getting it back.
Party politics has not been suspended. It has just become more subtle. Republicans are already testing lines of attack against President Obama and laying down markers that will allow them to say they warned us -- if Obama fails. In the meantime, Obama is already countering with quiet moves to broaden his political coalition.
When opponents of abortion rallied in Washington's streets last week, Obama did not offer a simple restatement of his support for abortion rights. Instead, his first response to the subject as president coupled his support for legal abortion with a call for "common ground." He urged action "to prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce the need for abortion, and support women and families in the choices they make."
The consensual tone on this divisive issue reflects intense behind-the-scenes lobbying by Obama's religious supporters, who asked him to put off for at least a day his executive order ending the ban on federal funds for groups involved in abortions overseas. The symbolism of the delay suggested that Obama intends to continue to poach constituencies that were once reliably Republican.
(More here.)
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