Obama Changing Washington: Easier Said Than Done
Steve Adubato, Ph.D.
CBS 2 Political Analyst

Barack Obama’s honeymoon looks like it’s about to end.  Then again, when the country loses 600,000 jobs in January alone, there’s no such thing as a honeymoon, even for a new President as charismatic and dynamic as Obama. 

Obama is going to get his economic stimulus package passed, but he clearly made some rookie mistakes along the way that he can’t repeat down the road.  The biggest mistake was that he gave too much power to the Democrats and House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi.  It was Pelosi and her team that filled the House version of the stimulus package with unnecessary pork and pet projects that Democratic Congressmen wanted for their districts.  In the process, Pelosi cut out the Republicans and made it clear that she didn’t need their votes to get the stimulus package passed.  That’s one of the biggest reasons the House version passed with no Republican votes— not a single one.  That may be fine for Nancy Pelosi, but it was embarrassing to the new President, who talked constantly about setting a new bipartisan tone in Washington and including  Republicans in the process. 

Look, let’s not kid ourselves.  A lot of Republicans, including conservative talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh, are rooting for Obama to fail.  Many stand on the sidelines and take pot shots at Obama, while taking no responsibility in trying to solve our country’s severe economic problems.  However, what Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats did to was gift wrap a political opportunity for Republicans to attack the stimulus plan.  In the end, Obama and the country will need both Democrats and Republicans to be a part of the solution. 

Cynical Democrats can say “we won, so can make the rules in Washington”, but the problem is that a lot of Americans are skeptical of the stimulus plan.  They do have legitimate questions, and saying ultimately that either you are with us or you’re part of the problem won’t cut it.  Hopefully, the Senate and the House, led by President Obama, will come up with an economic package that builds roads, bridges, mass transit systems, schools, etc., to create much needed jobs. 

But clearly, Barack Obama has found out that saying he’s going to change the way Washington works is a lot easier in a campaign than it is once you actually get to Washington.  All new Presidents—even the dynamic ones—make big mistakes out of the box, and Barack Obama is no exception.  The fact that he admits them, now that’s change.  Let’s hope that he learns from his mistakes, and the rest of the country is patient enough with him in the process.

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