President Obama has proposed a freeze on non-defense discretionary spending. Following Bill Kristol’s advice, John McCain backs the freeze. Meanwhile, the president has endorsed a bipartisan commission to examine spending and entitlements. And despite reports that the Democrats might use the reconciliation maneuver to pass a health care bill the public dislikes and does not want, after an election in which the victor campaigned explicitly against the Obama agenda, Obamacare in its current incarnation is dead or close to it. After a year hiatus, American politics is returning to the center.
This ought to caution Republicans against becoming overconfident as they look to the midterm elections. Public opinion research shows the electorate is overwhelmingly concerned with the economy, terrorism, and out of control spending. To the extent that Obama has good ideas on these topics, Republicans should be ready to support him, as they did when they backed the Afghanistan surge. While the public clearly has had enough of one-party liberal rule, it also wants to see bipartisan efforts to address serious issues.
