It’s been suggested that the GOP’s solidarity front was not so much about the stimulus bill as sending a message to the Obamacrats not to pursue any prosecutions connected to the Bush era. But even if Obama himself, who keeps stressing his desire to look forward not backwards, doesn't have the gumption to go after his predecessors, he may have to consider taking bolder steps on the economy to stave off the financial Armageddon many fear.
Obama knew he didn’t win by a landslide or fully control Congress. He thought he could legitimize his Administration by ingratiating the center of the deal-making culture of the Washington consensus. Tarnished on the campaign as a radical and worse, he felt he had to signal to the media and his adversaries that he would play the game by its rules, "responsibly." His adversaries sneered and the media amplified their slogans.
To get up and running, he picked a Cabinet built around managers and filled key posts with political operatives. The GOP jumped on tax errors by nominees but as David Michael Green explained in the blog, 'The Regressive Antidote,' that was not the problem:
"Much more disconcerting, with respect to those appointments, is just how small these figures are, and what records of nothingness they bring to the table. Worse still is to hear them described as the indispensable choices for these positions…In any case, what is really needed in the job right now is a heavyweight to sell some big ideas. Just watching Geithner in action, I can't help but think that he is the sheer antithesis of gravitas.”
To contain likely revolts from the military and intelligence worlds, he appointed insiders who sought to reassure the rogue and not-so-rogue elements that they had nothing to fear in terms of payback for crimes committed. Call this the politics of “compromise and co-optation.”
To move left, he felt he had to feint right and reach out to Republicans whose crude rejection further isolated them from all but their strident base. Frank Rich opined, “Having checked the box on attempted bipartisanship, Obama can now move in for the kill.” Is this wishful thinking?
He set up his White House team on the “Team of Rivals” strategy that Lincoln used expecting he would actually run the policy plays while the appointees implemented them. His team is new and inexperienced and just growing into their jobs. His missteps are clear.
So where are we? His stimulus bill passed having been stripped of some of its key programs. This prompted columnist Paul Krugman to write that "Obama's victory felt like a defeat." Everyone, right, left and center seems critical of Tim Geithner's bank proposal, which hopes to impose limits on Wall Street while helping investors make money. Team Obama is so far refusing so far to nationalize banks, an idea that is gaining steam.
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