Odds do not favorite bipartisan spirit

30 November 2010 |permalink | email article

President Obama meets today with a bipartisan group of Congressional leaders, including incoming House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell with lots to talk about. Both sides are trying to look for an agreement on extending the Bush-era tax cuts, with Republican insistence on cutting more spending.

Obama is running into trouble within his own party on finding common ground with the Republicans on the tax issue. Missouri Sen. Democrat Claire McCaskill, who may have re-election problems, is a case-in-point. On “Fox News Sunday” she said that she would be willing to back off the cutoff point of $250,000 and extend the Bush tax cuts to everyone making less than one million a year. That might form the basis for Republicans and moderate Democrats to work together. Liberal Democrats will never buy it.

It’s hard to imagine this meeting will set the stage for a new era of civility between the two parties. Soon after the 2008 election Obama phoned McConnell and the pair pledged to work together. Two years later, after the 2010 election Obama phoned again, but there has been no evidence of working together. In fact, Republicans since the midterm elections have become more confrontational, and McConnell has again repeated his top political goal is making Obama a one-term president.

House Ethics Committee

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-New York) has embarked on a last-minute effort to avoid Congressional censure and the indignity of a public scolding before the full House, possibly as early as this week. He argues that he deserves a less serious punishment short of expulsion like a reprimand for his ethics violations. …Meanwhile, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-L.A.) is calling for the House ethics committee to schedule her ethics trial on three counts of violating House rules before the end of the lame-duck session. The trial was to begin Nov. 29 but has been delayed because of new evidence, suggesting the case could drag into 2011.  An infuriated Waters claims she has been denied due process.

WikiLeaks

“The danger of letting it go on is greater than the danger of stopping it”.— Bahrain’s King to General David Petraeus, a stunning indication that Arab governments are practically begging the United States to prevent the Iranian government from getting nuclear weapons. Secretary of State Clinton has been handed a very tough challenge and is acquitting herself well.

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