Obama's Pelosi problem

When President Obama went into the lion's den a few weeks ago, he talked to the House Republican caucus about bipartisanship. All well and good, said the Republicans, but have you mentioned this to Speaker Nancy Pelosi?

“It’s really up to Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi and Majority Leader [Steny H.] Hoyer to carry through,” said Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) after the Jan. 29 confab. “I think the president will carry through in terms of having more meetings with us, having more discussions with us, but there’s got to be more than just discussions.”

Then on Tuesday, in yet another bipartisan outreach by the White House, Obama welcomed both sides to talk about the "key challenges" facing the country, including jobs and healthcare.

Obama tangled with Republican leaders, accusing Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) of trying to "kill" his domestic priorities.

But the most pivotal moment in the meeting came when White House economic advisers Christina Romer and Lawrence Summers outlined the administration's proposal to give employers a $5,000 credit for each new worker they hire. And objection came not from the Republican side but from Pelosi, who countered that no one she knows believed the plan would actually create jobs. “She questioned the efficacy of it,” one Democratic aide told Politico.

This is not the first time that Pelosi, who represents a hardcore liberal district in San Francisco, has pushed back against the president's new bipartisan tone. A few weeks ago she objected to Obama's proposal for a three-year freeze on discretionary spending, insisting that any freeze should also apply to defense spending.

Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly insisted afterward that the California representative is "a very strong supporter of this president" and that she was glad the White House convened the meeting. "She knows Democrats have to work with Republicans to pass this critical jobs bill," he said.

Obama, for his part, hit the White House briefing room afterward to sort of praise the effort -- he joked that the meeting had gone so well that McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) were “out doing snow angels together on the South Lawn.”

Then he warned that bipartisanship was a two-way street and neither side -- including Democrats -- could get their way. “Bipartisan can’t be that I agree to all the things that they believe in or want and they agree to none of the things that I want,” he said.

Madame Speaker?

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Obama. Credit: Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images

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Comments

[Gertrude]

Pelosi is more lethal than the bubonic plague and the later Spanish flu combined,and rat-faced Hoyer is the virus spreading agent. Jobs created by the
flawed porc laden stimulus are costing an average of over $250K each and
most of them are not permanent Jobs and will often die in less than a year.In
objecting to a relatively minuscule $5K tax cut per job created in this job plan,
she is demonstrating one more time what a dogmatic sectarian anti business
crypto marxist she and her minions are.How can Obama not see that she and
Hoyer are doing their utmost to avoid any republican support.The best proof
of the house's total lack of horse sense is the evisceration that the house bills
undergo when they get to the senate.Through the lousy dem bums out.

[H.Clinton]

I'm praying that God , Allah or Vishnu may persuade our president to name Ms Pelosi ambassador to
Pyong Yang , Tehran,Havana or Caracas.

[Fluster Cluck]

The dem party is home to basically 2 types of weirdos,make that 3.The most
numerous is the group of the naive and credulous leftys,the second is the
Chicago mafia type wich is interested only in the lowest venal pursuits and power, the
final and fast shrinking in numbers is the socalled bluedog moderate/conservatives who now realise they have been played for fools by
the Dem Chicago mob and the labour unions.

[Tom]

BO has always been bipartisan. Its true that he doesn't expect to get everything that he wants. As long as the repubs agree to 99% of what BO wants, he'll be glad to give in on 1%. That seems like a fair split, just as he always says it is. Anything else is just plain obstructionist.
;)

[redhawk]

Pelosi is Toxic.. may be Botox overuse did it... BUT what can we Say to Excuse Obama for all of his WHINING??? With an overwhelming Majority in the House and a veto proof SEnate BUT with his arrogant Inexperience based on Elitist and Narcisstic Personality he could not get anything done... YES all GW Bush's fault Now we Get it!!!!

[Jim Talley]

Did I miss something? When did we go from being homophobic to bipartisan? Shouldn't there be a heterogenic in there somewhere?