by Jules Witcover

There seems to be sentiment afloat hereabouts that inasmuch as President Obama took that shellacking on Nov. 2, he should do the polite thing and let the era of Republican ascendancy get underway. That is, he should not attempt to get the most out of the lame-duck session of Congress before the opposition party takes over in the House and narrows the Democratic gap in the Senate.

It's argued in some quarters he shouldn't even try to use the narrow window still open to him to push through an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the middle-class while shutting them down for the millionaires and billionaires as a down payment on federal deficit reduction.

By failing to go to the mat against the Republicans on this issue, Obama would surrender the clearest argument for such a reduction -- that the opposition party cares more about protecting its wealthiest supporters than having them contribute more to tackling the deficit they so loudly deplore.

On the foreign-policy front, it's also argued that the president should put off his push for Senate ratification of the new nuclear arms control treaty with Russia because Republican Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona is demanding more time to consider the pact, agreed to by Moscow last spring.

The so-called New Start treaty, which would reduce the nuclear stockpiles in both countries by about one third, is regarded as a key to the "re-set" of U.S.-Russian relations that Obama promised on assuming the presidency. Putting consideration off to the new Congress would deprive Obama of several lame-duck Democratic votes toward the 67 required for Senate confirmation.

Kyl's contention is that more billions of dollars are required to upgrade and maintain the existing U.S. stockpile. Even Obama's promise to seek additional funds for that purpose hasn't so far persuaded Kyl to desist. Neither has the president's declaration that approval of the treaty is "a national security imperative" to resume American inspections of the Russian nuclear arsenal.

In all this, Obama risks feeding an impression both at home and abroad that he still harbors the notion that, in spite of repeated Republican obstructionism through his first two years in office, his optimistic bid for bipartisanship will succeed in the end.

His post-midterm election comments about hearing the message of the American voters' rejection of much of his stewardship suggests that he believes he must strive even harder to work with the Republicans -- to the growing chagrin of many in his own party, particularly the liberals.

They want him to face what they see as the reality of continued Republican resistance to all aspects of his agenda, as the centerpiece of the GOP's strategy to recapture the White House in 2012. They want him to stand up and fight, starting in the lame-duck session, to use the political clout he still has before it is diminished in January, and to keep fighting thereafter, when the task inevitably will be harder.

Obama has expressed hope that the Republicans, having been given control of the House and more seats in the Senate, will recognize that they will have more responsibility in addressing the country's problems in the next year, and will become more conciliatory.

But as long as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's pre-election declaration that his main priority was in making Obama "a one-term president" is seen the marching orders for the Republicans in Congress, the prospect of a late-blooming bipartisanship seems dim.

Becoming the order of the day is the demand for masculine muscularity, voiced so often in the recent congressional elections. Candidates like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid were called upon by his tea party opponent to "man up" to the challenges of his office, a sentiment echoed by Sarah Palin.

Obama himself is being pressed similarly within his own party, if not in so many words. With the defeat of many blue dog Democrats of generally conciliatory disposition, and with tough-minded Nancy Pelosi remaining in the House Democratic leadership, the heat will be on the president to demonstrate a new assertiveness. The time to start is in the lame-duck session, before his political muscle atrophies.

 

Available at Amazon.com:

The Backlash: Right-Wing Radicals, High-Def Hucksters, and Paranoid Politics in the Age of Obama

The Feminine Mystique

The Disappearing Center: Engaged Citizens, Polarization, and American Democracy

The Virtues of Mendacity: On Lying in Politics

Bush on the Home Front: Domestic Policy Triumphs and Setbacks

The Political Fix: Changing the Game of American Democracy, from the Grassroots to the White House

Winner-Take-All Politics, How Washington Made the Rich Richer -- And Turned Its Back on the Middle Class

 

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Using the Lame Duck Session | Politics

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