Recently, Bush invited members of the Blue Dog Coalition and New Democrat Coalition to visit the White House to talk about policy. Many people here were understandably concerned that these representatives would outflank the leadership and cut deals with Bush on pro-business and anti-environmentalist policies, as we saw in the Senate in 2002. It appeared to be a slap in the face of the Democratic leaders who control the agenda in the House.
I wasn't too worried. For one, Pelosi has all but won the most important vote of the term and will be Speaker of the House. As such, she'll set the agenda, and no bill Bush seeks will come up for a vote unless she and a majority of Democrats support it. Secondly, no bill that she supports will be signed unless Bush agrees to it, so it can't hurt to see if he'll meet us halfway. He's betrayed us in the past but now his powers are limited.
So, what happened at the meeting? Take a look at this article.
Hoping to avoid a lame-duck final two years in the White House, President Bush is openly wooing moderate and conservative House Democrats as potential allies on a variety of issues as their party prepares to take control of Congress in January.
But the president's effort is running up against a major obstacle. The Democrats he has targeted for cooperation are the same lawmakers who are most critical of the huge budget deficits and increased national debt that have been amassed during Bush's six years in the presidency. They also want major changes in Bush's Iraq policy and have pledged their support for Democratic Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi's "six for '06'' platform of major legislative items that she will push in the early days of the new Congress.
Hmm. Doesn't sound good. I'm going to cut around some happy talk not because I want to deny that some comity was achieved, but to get to the good bits and stay within fair use.
Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, a Blue Dog member who wasn't at the White House session, said the deficit-hawk Blue Dogs have a basic problem with Bush when he talks about controlling government spending and defending his tax cuts for the richest Americans.
"You don't have to look beyond the growth in the national debt and the federal deficit to see he isn't being totally honest,'' Thompson said.
Hooray for some principles.
The New Democrats, chaired by Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Walnut Creek, came away from the meeting pledging to give bipartisanship a whirl, but also took a dig at the White House.
"This should be the beginning of a broader White House effort to get reacquainted with the Democrats in Congress after neglecting regular consultation over the past six years,'' the group said in a statement.
It sounds like they don't want to take Bush's marching orders. We may disagree with their own initiatives, but we can't say we didn't know how they felt when they won election as Democrats. And there's the primary process in the future if people in districts like Tauscher's decide they don't like the fruits of any consultation.
But what about Pelosi? Is she insulted?
f the president invites you to the White House, you go, said Pelosi, who attended a separate Cabinet Room meeting with Bush on Friday.
"I'm very confident in the soundness of the Blue Dog commitment to the Democratic caucus,'' she said. "The Democratic unity that we have from right to left in our caucus is something we're very proud of.''
It sounds like this meeting, like all meetings with Bush, went well when Bush heard what he wanted to hear and accomplished nothing where they said something he didn't want to hear. Bush doesn't know what compromise means and he's not about to learn now. Let's see what happens.