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Unity Goes Obama for the Repbulican Party, Progressives Cheer Getting Screwed
The Agonist - thoughtful, global, timely — ... The centrists get it. This political fight is between the "centrists" and the people. They want it all, they want it all, and they want it now. Liberals have to get bupkis before Obama gets a single Republican vote. If liberals were smart, they would draw the line here and tell President Obama that if he makes more concessions, they walk, and he gets nothing from them and will have to govern as a Republican from here on in. Last time that happened was NAFTA, and the Democrats are still smarting over how long they were out of power. So it won't happen now. So America, bend over ...

Mark Halperin: Obama's Fault That GOP Opposed Stimulus, Obama Took 'Exact Path Of Bush'
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — ... When you gather together a group of establishment journalists, you're likely to hear all about how bipartisanship is a magic elixir, without which important pieces of policy cannot be enacted. That was the basic premise of this morning's dreary chat on Morning Joe, in which the House Republicans unwillingness to cast a single vote for the stimulus package was depicted as a failure for Obama's leadership. Never mind the fact that the bill did pass, and never mind the fact that if the bill clears the Senate and the policy enacted is effective, the vote totals will become largely ...

Halperin blames Obama
Political Animal — HALPERIN BLAMES OBAMA.... President Obama went to great lengths to reach out to House Republicans, trying to get them to support an economic stimulus in the midst of an economic crisis. The president not only offered them more tax cuts than seemed necessarily, he also acted swiftly to remove spending provisions -- family planning, National Mall renovations -- that they mocked. The entire Republican caucus, we now know, balked anyway. Time 's Mark Halperin, naturally, is blaming Obama . From this morning's appearance on MSNBC: "This is a really bad sign for Barack Obama to try ...

Hullabaloo — ... I try to think about the reaction to yesterday's party-line vote from the perspective of a low-information non-junkie. They saw Republicans vote as a bloc against a popular President who wants to create jobs. That's probably a net negative for Republicans as people. It has nothing to do with invalidating their ideas. And the Village obviously isn't going to help with that. Here's chief lickspittle Mark Halperin explaining how Obama "didn't go for centrist compromises" in the stimulus. ...

Who Woulda Thunk It? Media Says Obama's Post Partisan Unity Schtick Failed
TalkLeft — Steve Benen is nonplussed that Mark Halperin thinks President Obama failed in his quest for post partisan unity. Benen writes: Halperin believes, for reasons that are unclear, that the paramount goal was to win the support of lawmakers who were wrong and who were advocating bad ideas. It's not about what works, or what would actually improve the economy in the midst of a serious recession. What really matters is "bipartisan solutions." Why? Because Mark Halperin says so. Merit be damned -- if Democrats liked the legislation and Republicans ...

Stiffing the American People and Calling It “Principle”
Comments from Left Field — ... The entire Republican caucus, we now know, balked anyway. Time’s Mark Halperin, naturally, is blaming Obama. From this morning’s appearance on MSNBC: ...

Boehlert: Obama, the press, and the “bipartisan” trap
The Hollywood Liberal — ... in any meaningful way with Democrats, is there anything Obama can do to change that? No, not really. But according to the press, Obama — and Obama alone — is supposed to change that mindset. Actually, according to the L.A. Times , he’s supposed to have already changed it . Traditionally, the standard the press used for judging a new president was: Could he get his initiatives passed? With Obama though, that’s morphed into, can he get his initiatives passed in a certain way? Because, apparently, Americans now keep running tallies of C-SPAN roll call votes on their ...