Barack Obama has already established that he has no interest in working with Republicans on economic matters. The GOPers in Congress were treated like the poor cousins from the other side of tracks by Obama and Democratic congressional leaders during stimulus package deliberations.
So why is Obama, with his “put up or shut up” message, calling for Republicans to submit a budget?
With an increasing number of congressional Democrats going public with their opposition to the Obama budget, he needs a big target to shoot at — a GOP budget proposal.
Republicans should hold back on submitting a budget they know will be used as a tool by the president to try to diminish the appearance of Democrat opposition to his own bloated budget.
Instead, they may be able to find common ground with centrist Democrats and work with Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) on his budget proposal. While being far from a GOP wish list, the Conrad budget at least attempts to ameliorate some of the damage infecting the Obama socialist agenda.
President Obama is on Capitol Hill today NOT to garner support from Republicans for his bill or even to ask for their input. He is there today to quash Democrats’ opposition to him. MoveOn.org and other left-wing groups are helping him bully his own party members into submission by running ads against Democrats in the Senate who do not support the Obama budget.
Obama knows this party fratricide will be blamed on him, and justifiably so. He desperately needs Republicans to be his target as soon as possible with their own budget.
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