Later this afternoon, President Obama will be meeting with Congressional Leadership from both parties. Minority Whip Eric Cantor, who sets the tone for the GOP message in the House -- really, for all congressional Republicans; what is Mitch McConnell up to these days, anyway? -- has reportedly sent a letter ahead to the president "painting him as the good guy and Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the meanie: 'Democratic leaders in Congress have so far ignored your call for a new era of bipartisanship in Washington – however the next 100 days can be different.'"
It's an interesting shift. During most of the stimulus debate, up until the president dropped his budget, this was the Republican line of the day -- align with the popular president, and use attacks on the less-popular Congressional Democrats as an excuse to vote no on the government's agenda. After the stimulus, the Republicans adjusted and started going after the president more directly, in part because members didn't think they were seeing an return on their previous strategy and partially in response to the ambition of the Obama budget. But after a quiet Easter recess (Congress returned to work this week) it seems that the GOP could be shifting back again. Despite their harsh criticism, the president remains popular, and most of his real problems have come from Senate Democrats. Looking ahead to 2010, they may have given up on casting Obama as a political enemy -- who wants to take on the champ? -- in favor of scapegoating the congressional Dems to make their argument for a return to power.
One letter makes it too early to say for sure, but this could be a sign that Republicans are adjusting their media strategy, continuing their effort to gain traction in a political environment that hasn't rewarded their efforts so far. Even the special election in upstate New York has now tilted in the Democrats' direction, leaving them without even a symbolic victory. Safe to say, though, that with the widely over-hyped 100 days marker coming up next Wednesday, actors on all sides wil be doing a post-mortem on the first chunk of the year to figure out how to tackle the next set of debates.
-- Tim Fernholz
