Will Republicans cooperate with Barack Obama?

The House of Representatives passed the economic stimulus bill today but no Republicans crossed over to support President Barack Obama's plan.

Indeed, seven Democrats voted against the party's leader's package to create new jobs and stimulate the economy. Also today, Obama's new pick as commerce secretary, Judd Gregg, withdrew his nomination.

The Senate is voting on the bill now, but Obama is expected only to garner a few Republican votes.

Bipartisan cooperation may be more difficult than the president expected.

One always has to look at the political situation when analyzing what is going on in Washington. Obama might have a hard time finding Republican friends prior to the 2010 congressional elections. The idea goes is that they will try to draw clear lines between Republicans and the president. Of course, if things do not go well in 2010 for the GOP, then they might be more willing to cooperate with the administration.



US Senate Begins Voting on Obama’s $787 Billion Stimulus Plan
Bloomberg - 1 hour ago
By Brian Faler Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The Senate began voting on President Barack Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus plan hours after the House, with no Republican votes, passed the package designed to help revive the US economy.
House passes $787B stimulus CNNMoney.com
Stimulus Aims to Pump Life Into US Economy Voice of America

Bipartisanship difficult on economic issues

Progressives and conservatives can often get together in times of crisis especially when it involves issues of national security.

On economic issues though -- things like taxes, deficits and spending -- it has always been much harder to get them to agree with each other. Indeed, often consensus is difficult on economic matters even among members of the same party.

So it may be that the Obama administration will have to ramrod the president's economic stimulus plan through the House of Representatives with mostly Democratic votes. There may still be some time to get more Republican support before the Senate votes on the package.

If only for political reasons, members of both party know that something needs to be done quickly as thousands of jobs are lost everyday. Moving forward alone though can be risky for the Democrats. If the stimulus plan is seen as failing, then the Republicans can use that failure as political ammunition come election time.

BBC News

Obama seeks Republican support for stimulus plans
Reuters - 42 minutes ago
By Thomas Ferraro and Caren Bohan WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Democratic President Barack Obama struggled on Tuesday to placate Republicans in Congress who insist his $825 billion plan for reviving the troubled US economy should include bigger tax ...
Video: Obama, GOP Leaders Meet on Stimulus AssociatedPress


Obama Visits Capitol to Press Republicans on Stimulus Plan New York Times

Will Republicans back Obama stimulus plan?

House Republican leader John Boehner said today that there is little GOP support for President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan.

Boehner said the current package has too much wasteful and "slow-moving" spending that will not be effective in creating jobs.

"I think a lot of Republicans will vote no, because they see this as a lot of wasteful Washington spending, padding the bureaucracy and doing nothing to help create jobs and preserve jobs," Boehner said on NBC Sunday.

Obama's economic team though continued to warn that delayed action could have serious consequences including double digit unemployment.

Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York was optimistic that Republicans would eventually support the Obama package. "I think you're going to find a large number of Republicans voting for this package. There has been a lot of input," Schumer said on "Fox News Sunday."

Washington Post

Will Obama's economic plan stimulate bipartisan support?
CNN - 2 hours ago
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Barack Obama, who arguably won a large chunk of political capital in the 2008 election, is now looking to cash in as he urges Congress to pass a massive economic stimulus package.
Video: Boehner: Little GOP Support for Stimulus Package AssociatedPress


Biden, Summers Sound Economic Warnings, Push Stimulus Bloomberg