Preening around

Josh Marshall, pointing to a column this morning in the Washington Post, nails Republicans for their mendacity, incoherence and destructive incompetence.

That being said - and I don't necessarily disagree with Josh (see my Tired and Confused post below) - maybe this is part of what "bipartisanship" really means. Parties and politicians have agendas, and we cannot expect them to leave those agendas aside (even when those agendas are destructive). When you stop railroading policies through, like happened in the Bush years, getting to a final bill can be messy. Perhaps that is a necessary element of change. Despite fantasies of kumbaya (starry-eyed optimistic on the far left - though I'm not sure many lefties actually feel that way, and it's mostly just a fiction created by conservatives - and condescending on the far right), remember that in order to achieve bipartisan results, there need to be two partisan positions. Nobody can force good faith upon those partisans in order to reach a bipartisan solution, but hashing out the differences (even if one side is dishonest in its position) is a necessary part of that process.

This does not mean you concede - there are lots of bad ideas on the Republican side, and much of what the group of so-called moderates lead by Senator Collins and Ben Nelson are seeking to cut is actually the real stimulus stuff, rather than the counterproductive tax cuts which should be removed but will end up staying in order to buy-off the grandstanding conservatives.

A big part of me wishes that McConnell and Boehner and McCain (can you explain to me the logic of encouraging buying inefficient cars through tax breaks and giving tax credits to reinflate the housing bubble?) and the rest of the bozos would just go away, but I'm not entirely sure that having a fool for a would-be foil is such a bad thing, nor do I think that all criticism is without merit. If you cannot beat back the nonsense, how can you be expected to get it right?

Moreover, despite cable TV chatter - or in no small part as a result of cable TV chatter - I think people can see where the good faith is, and where it is not. Rabid Republicans may think they are winning this battle, but they're not going to win over the public by leading the economy down the sewer. Long term, they can only rehabilitate their image by being responsible and part of the process, rather than being obstructionist and knuckleheaded. I'm happy to watch the Republicans make the wrong choice, so long as they are not setting the agenda. Despite their characteristic incompetence at gauging the public mood and reporting on facts instead of spin, sooner or later the talking heads on teevee will recognize that, too.

This process may take more time than originally hoped, but a little bit more time is ok. I know - tell it to the people who are losing jobs. But, as President Obama has said about the stimulus plan itself, we're never going to get to perfect, but we do need what is necessary. And what is necessary from a legislative standpoint is a process that has credibility, and thus creates greater confidence in the result.

Despite all of the worrying about the Obama Administration's flat-footed response to the Republican faux outrage and dishonesty that has been a hallmark of the stimulus debate, I think the real Barack Obama - not the fantasy one - understands that, and I think that's why we've seen that, while pushing for a rational stimulus that will actually address our needs as well as a sense of urgency to get it done and get it done well, there is no sense of panic coming from the Administration.

As President Obama has said, this isn't supposed to be easy.