Why Republican Efforts to Block Obama Won’t Work This Time by Michael Tomasky

Why Republican Efforts to Block Obama Won’t Work This Time
by Michael Tomasky Dec 16, 2012 4:45 AM EST

Republicans came roaring back after defeat in 2008. But don’t bet on it happening again. Michael Tomasky on why the GOP’s obstructionist tactics are bound to backfire.

So the Republicans look like crap right now. The brand, as they say, is at a horrible low. Naturally I find this amusing and satisfying. But then I recall: Well, they looked pretty bad in December 2008, too. Remember? They were written off. But then they came roaring back and really showed some muscle and swept the next elections. So what’s to prevent them from doing the same this time? Three factors, actually. History may repeat itself, as the saying goes, but never so precisely that the exact same tricks will work a second time.

Think back to four years ago. Obama hadn’t taken office yet, but he was at some stratospheric approval number. Optimism abounded. Most of all the idea that the Republicans were going to greet the Obama era by just saying no to everything seemed absurd. And the phrase tea party still referred to, you know, an afternoon soiree, where they served, you know, tea. All that changed pretty fast once Obama took office. Yes, the Republican were outrageous in opposition, but nobody ever said they weren’t good in opposition, and so it didn’t take before the “Republicans have found their legs” stories started appearing. But that was then. Here’s what’s different now.

First, the economy. It was pretty easy for Republicans to make a chump of Obama when the country was losing 600,000 jobs a month and the unemployment was racing upward toward 10 percent and thousands of people were losing their homes. The economic crisis, in early 2009, was the context for everything else that was happening. And even though it was true then—and, entertainingly, it’s apparently still true—that people blame George W. Bush more than they do Obama, that fact didn’t prevent Hill Republicans from greeting each new bleak set of numbers with the cry that Obama’s policies were making things worse. Nothing to it.

But now, the jobless rate is falling at a decent clip, the Fed is evidently strongly committed to getting it down to 6.5 percent, confidence is up, and all the rest of it. Republicans will have no bleak numbers to bleat about. America won’t be doubting Obama’s ability to get results on his most important task. If the positive indicators keep going up, so will Obama’s job approval numbers, and Republicans will find the audience for their economic critiques to be both smaller and less persuadable.

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/16/why-republican-efforts-to-block-obama-won-t-work-this-time.html