Robert Kuttner: It's Show Time for Obama: "One of the most coyly ambiguous lines in President Obama's Inaugural Address was his pledge to 'end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics.'
That sounds high-minded, but you can read the promise two ways. Some heard it as a reproach to Republican ideology and to President Bush, who was seated nearby. Others heard it the latest reiteration of Obama's desire to move beyond dogma per se and to achieve a new synthesis.
We will soon learn which it was. Obama, the president who would be post-ideological, is at last having his first encounters with the realities of polarized politics. Exhibit A is the stimulus package.
Obama has been more than generous in offering the Republicans far more tax-cutting as part of the recovery program than sound policy warrants. Will they reciprocate and support the rest of the package?
At Obama's meeting last Friday with Congressional Republican and Democratic leaders, Republican Congressman Eric Cantor of Virginia was making the case that more tax cuts would be more stimulative than public spending. Obama replied in a jocular way according to those present, that the issue had been settled by the election, and 'I won.'"
(Via Huffington Blog.)
