There have been early stumbles in dealing with the Republicans. Obama tried to extend the hand of bipartisanship and basically pulled back a bloody stump. This effort, while laudable on one level, has allowed the Republicans to gain control of the spin on the stimulus package.
I am hoping that Obama's performances at the Department of Energy and later in Williamsburg, are previews of where he is about to take the discourse.
The stimulus package has been so watered down with tax cuts and reductions in real focused spending programs that it may not be effective in its present form. But all is not lost--at least not yet.
Obama is going out on the campaign trail this week to try to sell it to an American people, who Frank Rich observes, are seething with populist anger. That anger is rightly directed against the obstructionist Republicans, but that is not a given. The power to direct it goes to the one who can seize the moment and turn it in a direction.
This anger is real and Obama really only has two choices: he can allow himself to be overtaken by it or he can get in front of it and lead it against the Republicans full scale, weilding it like a batl'eth. There can be no hesitation. He must go for the jugular, pointing the public anger with a will and a fury. He must call these people what they are--obstructionists interested only in their own political advantage to the detriment of the country and to the jobs, lives and homes of decent hard-working Americans. Point out all the lies, link it to the debacle in Iraq. Give it a full-court press because there will be no second chance.
And then the Democrats in the Senate have to force the Republicans to filibuster in the good old fashioned way--by being seen on TV reading the phone book while the country waits for serious attention to our grave situation. Harry Reid and Obama should say, "OK, you want to filibuster? Then filibuster. But your mugs are going to be displayed in front of the American people while you fritter away their lives and all they have worked for."
At that point, the Democrats can redo a lot of the bill in conference and then dare the Republicans to try to kill it.
All it takes is the will.