Six days to the presidency, Obama issues first veto threat, senator says

Well, that didn't take long.

President-elect Barack Obama is still 6.75 days away from inauguration as No. 44, and according to the omnipresent Ryan Grim quoting the omni-voluble Sen. Joe Lieberman on HuffingtonPost, the Connecticut sort-of member of the Democratic congressional caucus emerged from today's closed lunch to say that the almost-president had issued his first solid veto threat.

And here we thought the new presidency and new Congress were controlled by Democrats determined to work together. Ah, the smell of gridlock in the afternoon.

It's one of those bass-ackwards deals that Washington operatives love, involving the president asking for dispersal of the next $350 billion of the bailout/stimulus money and if Congress doesn't stop it in 15 days, then it happens. But if Congress does move to stop it, Obama reportedly says he'll veto the stop.

Maybe it's a muscle marker to former colleagues, like an elbow to the chin on the first play from scrimmage. But it sounds like something very familiar to believe in.

Got it? Get it.

Thanks, Joe. Thanks, Ryan.

--Andrew Malcolm

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