January 30, 2009 12:01 AM
Different Playbooks
Well, so much for the era of bipartisanship. It lasted--let's see--eight days. The House Republicans, under the leadership(?) of Minority Leader John Boehner, have decided that obstructionism is preferable to cooperation. The stimulus package has its flaws, to be sure, but the GOP is making its stand not against its contents, but against an agenda that won handily in the last election, and is supported by a vast majority of Americans. Whatever. The Democrats now own the economic future. Having turned their backs on the president and his program (and made the spurious charge that they were not included in the discussion) the Republicans can only be hoping that the economy fails to respond. It's a pathetic political strategy that places its hopes for redemption on the continued suffering of the American people.
