The politics of change, Pelosi style

As the astounding $819 billion spending spree was forced through Congress last week by the Democrats by a vote of 244-188. Of that vote not a single Republican supported the bill and 11 Democrats also voted nay. This is far from the bipartisan support that the new president has been calling for. As the bill prepares to take the floor in the Senate this week there seems to be much of the same old game going on in Washington, at least for Pelosi.

First I would like to give credit (yes I am actually fair believe it or not) to President Obama. Although I do not support this package for a number of reasons, I must say that the new president has certainly impressed me. President Obama has gone far and out of his way to try and get as much bipartisan support for the bill as possible by holding numerous meetings last week and even inviting GOP leaders to the White for Super Bowl Sunday. However as Obama tries to move past this tit-for-tat politics that has made so many people distrustful of Washington over the years, it seems that the huge Democratic majority in Congress sees no need to work with the Republicans at all. As it stands right now, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has already threatened to take away the upcoming three week congressional recess if this bill is not pushed through the Senate by that time. (Gasp! Does that mean government will have to work just like the rest of us! Preposterous!). Pelosi is basically demonstrating that she has absolutely no intentions of working with Republicans, and will pass her spending spree with or without their support.

Nancy Pelosi is one of the most partisan Washington hacks situated in Congress. Since she became Speaker about two years ago, the approval ratings of Congress are at a one year high of 14% according to Rasmussen. I am so glad that Congress is looking out for the people's interests. Somehow I doubt Pelosi cares about approval ratings though. She has a very partisan agenda and will ram it down the tax-payer's throats one way or another. Her partisanship is exactly what I warned about in one of my previous blogs as well.

If President Obama wants to move Washington past this kind of partisan bickering (which he is starting to convince me he does), he is going to have to get people, like Pelosi, under control. President Obama is going to have to reign in the Speaker (and probably Senate majority leader Harry Reid as well, though I am less concerned about him) if Obama does not want his presidency marred with "more of the same" partisan politics. If anything, this will be the most devastating obstacle Obama will face. I believe that right now we are seeing his inexperience in big leagues play out. He probably had a nice and pretty picture of how Washington was going to change (thanks to the media) as soon as he took office but is now getting hit hard with reality by a Washington insider. For his sake, and the United States, Obama better get Pelosi under control because she is going to make it a very long four years.