From CNN's Jack Cafferty:
President Obama had hoped the political capital he won on the campaign trail would pay off in Washington and allow him to push through his emergency stimulus bill without too much hassle. But after less than a week in office he has run headlong into the partisan battles he promised to eliminate in the Nation's Capital.
Eric Holder is sworn in during his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill on January 15, 2009. Holder's nomination to be the next Attorney General has been a source of contention between the President and many Republicans.
The new President is facing sharp resistance to his $825-billion stimulus package that the House is expected to consider on Wednesday. Questions about how the money will be spent stand in the way. Not that surprising when you consider the mystery of the $750-billion Wall Street bailout President Bush signed off on last year. We still don't know where a lot of that money went.
President Obama is pulling out all the stops to get everyone on the same page. He's meeting with his economic advisers, talking with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, and continues to tell the American people how bad things are and warn them to brace for things to get worse.
And it's not just the stimulus package the President is having problems with. Republicans are holding up the confirmation of his Attorney General, Eric Holder.
And they can't be thrilled that the new President is signing one executive order after another to undo the policies of his Republican predecessor.
These are all indications that this isn't going to be the smooth sailing President Obama had in mind.
Here’s my question to you: Is the spirit of bipartisanship already dead in Washington?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
John writes:
Bipartisanship is not dead, yet. The Republicans will approve the stimulus package and Eric Holder for Attorney General. The Republicans will jump on the Obama administration if there are no improvements in the economy by January 2010.
Jackie from Dallas, Texas writes:
Bipartisanship? What is that? Between the Democrats shooting themselves in their collective feet by fighting our new President, and Republicans trying to sound all moral and fiscally conservative - even though we all know that they were the ones that got us in this mess - I don't believe it exists, yet.
Stacy from Leesburg, Virginia writes:
Jack, if you listen to right wing radio (which I do for kicks) they are attacking President Obama, the Democrats, Republicans who work towards compromise, and so-called “blind and lazy Americans” that voted to throw the GOP out of office. For these people, bipartisanship and compromise are signs of weakness and failure. They are prophets to some degree, because Obama’s success means their tyrannical dogma is on the way out.
Claire from Melbourne, Florida writes:
Hello Jack. Sadly bipartisanship is just a meaningless word to Republicans. These are the same "follow the leader" ideologs who aided, abetted and enabled Bush/Cheney to put thru all these illegal priorities they instituted. I seem to remember something about these partisan hacks not allowing the Democrats into Congressional discussions about Bush/Cheney bills when they were in the majority. What goes around comes around and I hope they enjoy the irrelevancy they have worked so hard to achieve!
Matt from Stafford, Virginia writes:
Bipartisanship is not dead yet. What we are seeing is the end of Obama's honeymoon. The celebration is over and now the real uphill battle begins. No matter what there is going to be friction between liberals and conservatives, but unlike Bush, at least Obama is extending his hand and not clenching his fist.
Kaz writes:
If you got rid of Pelosi and Reid there would be more bipartisanship. They try and ram everything down the Republicans throats. Naturally they push back harder then they normally would. If they had their Republican ideas heard.