An early own goal for Obama

An article provoking a lot of comment on the Guardian’s comment is free site is a feature by Gary Younge on President Obama’s attempt to woo congressional Republicans on the fiscal stimulus package.

Echoing what I have said in an article for tutor2u’s first past the post magazine, Younge writes on the Republicans:

‘According to a recent Rasmussen poll, almost half of Republicans think their problem is not that they have been too rightwing, but too moderate. More than half think the Alaska governor and defeated vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin offers the best model for their party. To the extent that they have learned any lessons from their defeat, they seem to be the wrong ones.’

But then Younge goes onto say that Obama is making an error in trying to make accommodations across the aisle:

‘As the economic stimulus bill goes to the Senate for negotiation, there is a real possibility that Obama may end up with the worst of all worlds: an inadequate stimulus package that has been watered down by the Republicans; a huge budget deficit; and still no support from the Republicans.

What the Republicans fear is precisely what many Democrats hope for: paradigm-shifting legislation that rolls back some of the excesses of the last generation by returning government to the centre of American public life, creating jobs and uplifting the poor, while extending healthcare and educational opportunities to working-class families.

“Never let a crisis go to waste,” said Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. This economic crisis has given the president the opportunity to do for the poor what 9/11 gave Bush the chance to do for the oil companies. When capital is in such short supply, he shouldn’t squander it on a sub-prime party.’