Just Say "No" As A Winning Strategy?

5305933Rush Limbaugh may be too blunt for some party elders but his January call to arms to oppose the watered-down evils of bi-partisanship wasn't simply hot air. While nobody is going around similarly proclaiming the hope that the Obama presidency fails, El Rushbo's now-signature line has become the organizing principle of Congressional Republicans as they prepare for the 2010 mid-term elections.

On Monday, Roll Call reported that Republicans have decided to stall for time in hopes of derailing the administration's health care reform bill. Without enough votes in the Senate to filibuster, they believe their best chance is to drag out the debate process and "give the public enough time to figure out what's in it and what they don't like about it."

"Doing that is going to take some time, and the process of amending bills during a floor debate — which can include demanding a 60-vote threshold for all amendments — could provide the minority ample opportunity to slow things down. Republicans could also benefit from some built-in delays, including the fact that Democratic leaders have said they'd like to wait for a Congressional Budget Office cost estimate on the bill before beginning debate."

"This process could repeat itself when the chamber prepares to consider the final House-Senate conference report. Earlier in the year, Republicans were hoping that Democratic divisions would do to Obama's health care agenda what the GOP can't, but they no longer expect moderate Democrats to stand in the way of passage - even one that includes a public insurance option."

All the while, they can hammer away at the plan for increasing taxes, raising premiums, and hurting the elderly by cutting Medicare.
This is more than a case of Republicans being from Mars and Democrats being from Venus. This is about political hardball. Early on in the Obama administration, Republicans made the correct calculation that the success of the president's domestic agenda will only help Democrats tighten their control in Washington.

This got painted as a philosophical battle between Big Government and Limited Government. Mr. Obama was running up the debt to fund an ambitious stimulus bill as well as a multi-billion dollar auto bailout, and so by defining themselves in opposition, the Republicans had an alibi in case everything came a cropper. So far, however, that bet hasn't worked out.

In the third quarter, retail sales climbed 2% to 3% (minus the predictable drag from autos following the expiration of the cash-for-clunkers' rebates.) The credit and housing markets are stabilizing and the Dow has surged past the 10,000 mark. If these so-called green shoots multiply and find roots, the Republicans have a problem. Already, they are being ridiculed as the "party of no."

During an appearance on Fox News, Senator Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) had this to say about his former party.

"On the Republican side, it is no, no, no. A party of obstructionism... you have responsible Republicans who have been to the Senate like Howard Baker, Bob Dole and Bill Frist, who say Republicans ought to cooperate. Well, they're not cooperating."

So far, the Republicans' stance isn't helping shift voting allegiances. A Washington Post-ABC poll released late Monday found that 20% of the American people identified themselves as Republicans, the lowest single number in the history of the 26-year-old survey. (33% called themselves Democrats while 42% of respondents said they were independents.)

Another worry for Republicans: A clear majority of Americans - 57% - now say they support a public insurance option, compared to 40 percent who oppose it. That's up from 52 percent who favored the idea in August when angry town hall protests about a so-called government takeover of health care received much attention in the media.