Some more validation...

[damonm]

of my thinking on how Obama's "bipartisan" outreach will kill the GOP from Daily Kos:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/9/93530/64491/480/695142

From the very beginning of his administration, less than three weeks ago, Obama has known that he has a commanding majority in the House of Representatives. In the House all that is required to prevail is a simple majority, so Obama has always known that he would be able to pass some version of a stimulus through the House. Barack Obama made a great display of reaching across the aisle to persuade House Republicans to climb aboard and support a bill that Obama already knew he could pass without a single Republican vote. Why would Barack Obama do such a thing?

The mainstream media bit and bit hard. If Barack Obama was pursuing those Republican votes, then it must be that he needed those votes somehow--though certainly not to pass the stimulus, he just needed them somehow, and the Republican Party was winning some kind of major victory by withholding from Obama votes that he seemed to want for some reason.

Or perhaps something very different happened. Perhaps Barack Obama set a trap for the Republicans, a trap they fell for with startling gullibility.

My evidence for this? Remember, I don't believe in honeymoons or mandates: either you can do something or you can't--and it is already well-established that Barack Obama had the votes in the House of Representatives to pass a version of the stimulus bill without a single Republican vote. So why didn't Obama simply have Nancy Pelosi quickly pass the stimulus and move on to persuding the Senate? Why did Barack Obama visit Capitol Hill and bring dozens of cameras and put the Republican leadership in the spotlight? Why invite to cocktails and put the Republican leadership in the spotlight? Why throw a Superbowl party and put Republican leadership in the spotlight? Why has Barack Obama worked so diligently to put the Republican leadership in the spotlight and on the record?

[NYC_SKP]

1. I like the cut of your jib, JCWilmore...

Indeed, this puts a new slant on the term "transparency".

[damonm]

2. A boot of shameless self-promotion...

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

3. The 2008 campaign trail is littered with the bodies of those who underestimated the man.

[Clio the Leo]

4. Because his 2012 theme will be......

.... "I tried to work with these guys and they fought me from day one!"

Those of us on the left and those on the right, we love partisan bickering, we'd all love for him to destroy the Pubs as Newt did to us back in '95 .... but most Americans aren't like that. You may remember during the debates, McCain's line on that CNN instapoll of undecided voters would tank whenever he would say anything that sounded remotely partisaned.

And Barack Obama, being the smart man that he is, knows this. Regardless of what happens with the economy, he must simply hold on to his base, maintain control of the middle, pray that Sarah Palin is the GOP's nominee .... and he's got it locked up.

[firedupdem]

5. I agree with all of that. n/t