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The other day I was trying to come up with an incentive for Republicans to work with the Obama administration in the face of a lot of strong evidence that doing so isn't in their interest. This was what I suggested:
[T]here will be political hay to be made as the results of that agenda trickle out, with Republicans arguing that the successful part of the stimulus were the tax cuts. Basically, anyone who signed on early will have a chance to claim some credit; assuming that the Democrats will get all the credit for any agenda item they pass with some Republicans may be one assumption too much: After all, they really do need a few Republicans to get through the Senate.Case in point: Arlen Specter's op-ed in support of the stimulus legislation. Come 2010, if he runs, he will be waving that around like it's nobody's business. True, Pennsylvania is a uniquely blue spot for a Republican, but that's why we should be watching these districts for bipartisanship.And here's the latest from Specter:
"This is obviously a very difficult vote in view of the large deficit and national debt which we have. But I believe it is indispensible [sic] that strong action be taken because the serious economic condition - with millions of jobs lost and millions of people being foreclosed from their houses - poses a threat that cannot be ignored... My preference would have been Senator McCain’s bill of $450 billion in tax cuts, but in a legislature you don’t get everything that you want. This bill has a very substantial component of tax cuts. The Republican moderates were able to see to it that more than $100 billion was cut from this program. There are people who would like to spend less, some would like to spend nothing.I believe the position of the United States Chamber of Commerce is a solid position from a very conservative organization and a Republican group very concerned with fiscal restraint. They have endorsed this legislation enthusiastically because of the seriousness of the economic situation and because of what it will mean on highways and bridges and dams and putting so many people to work.There are lots of naysayers on all sides, but the Republican moderates struck an agreement for $780 billion. The fact is that we hung tough and it was modified only in the case of absolute necessity to go to $789. As I said, unless the bill remained virtually intact from what the agreement was last Friday, my support would be conditioned on that - and we got there."I think this is a very smart play on Specter's part, threats of a tough primary from the Right notwithstanding. The senator has got a solid case to make to his constituents that he actually did something in Washington but still enough room to separate himself from Obama. I don't know if it constitutes a model for future interactions between the administration and Republicans, but it is clear that there are some people in the GOP who realize that there is a benefit to engagement.
-- Tim Fernholz
