Obama Gives Glimpse into Future Dealings with Republicans

When asked specifically by a reporter what he had learned from the process - and the obstacles - involved in getting his stimulus bill passed, the president was quick to point out that he's facing opposition that wasn't there when the bill was first introduced. President Obama pointed out that Republican leaders were initially "pleasantly surprised" with the amount of tax cuts that were included in the original stimulus proposal. But then, Republicans appeared to change their tune and have staunchly opposed the stimulus plan, calling it too laden with excessive spending.

President Obama thought for a moment before he explained that, in the future, he would propose legislation that specifically withheld points that Republicans would be pushing for. Then, after they requested the changes, he would grant them, thus allowing the Republicans to take credit for the changes. He was half-joking in his response, but in that brief exchange lies all of the problems with our current system of government.

Without getting into the fundamental conservative and liberal ideologies that are at play in the stimulus discussion, one only needs to look at the very nature of our country's political system to understand where the problem lies. In our current two-party system of government, it does not benefit either party to agree to a solution that is proposed by the other party -- even if that proposed solution is clearly the best approach to solve a given problem. The reason is that neither party can afford to be in agreement with a suggestion of the other, and both parties must claim credit for any successful legislation that is created.

As a result, you see what's going on right now. A stimulus deal is proposed by the majority Democrats, but the minority Republicans are going to oppose it. Not necessarily because it's not a good bill, but because it's not "their" bill.