My personal thoughts this morning revolve around Senator Obama’s failed ability to lead given the situation he is in. For all the talk about bringing people together and striking a bipartisan tone, Barack Obama failed miserably yesterday.
The Paulson package failed miserably not because of any “stunt” pulled by John McCain or the House Republican conference, but because Democrats failed to listen.
It is true that Senate Republicans agreed to an outline of principles in a meeting with Democrats. However no one cared to listen to many Republicans in the House of Representatives who are absolutely livid about charging the tax payers with almost a trillion dollars to bail out failed companies.
The other important factor which many media outlets are not reporting, is that Nancy Pelosi wants one hundred House Republican votes before she will go along with the issue – which provides her political cover fire for what is a very unpopular proposal.
Enter Senator John McCain.
Contrary to what CNN and others are reporting – it was his presence at the meeting table which gave House Republicans a seat at the negotiations and allowed them to speak their mind.
Senator Obama on the other hand, apparently spoke for Democrats and played hard ball in what ended up being a shouting match.
This, of course, lead to Secretary Paulson litterally getting on his hands and kneeds before Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and begging for the deal to go through. Her response? Blame the House Republicans.
The truth is that Pelosi and Democrats could ram this through without any problem, as they have done on a number of occassion during the 110th Congress. The trick is that the legislation aint exactly popular and she is looking to bullet proof her caucus.
Senator Obama, on the other hand, is showing his ability (or lack there of) to work with Republicans in a bipartisan manner. In fact his latest decision as reported by Fox News is to fly back to Mississippi for the debate tonight instead of doing his job back in Washington, D.C. trying to hammer out a deal.
Crisis situations show character and defines people. Can it be no doubt that Senator Obama cares more about himself and his political party than the nation?
