The days following the tortured passage of health care reform saw no letup in heated partisan rhetoric, as Republicans threatened to repeal the law and President Obama mocked, “Go for it.”
Sharp exchanges threatened to exacerbate the worst tendencies of both parties, as Republicans dug in bitterly for a fight to November and Democrats risked overreaching past their health care victory.
“You turn on the news, you’ll see the same folks are shouting about there’s going to be an end of the world because this bill passed,” Obama told supporters at an Iowa rally. “Leaders of the Republican Party, they called the passage of this bill ‘Armageddon.’ ”
The president’s victory-lap intonations were a marked contrast from the lead-up to the vote, when he spoke frequently about bipartisanship.
“Americans are understandably despairing about whether partisanship … will make it impossible for us to deal with the big challenges that face our country,” he said last month. “They want to see us focus not on scoring points, but on solving problems.”
His new attitude echoed to some the “bring it on” bravura of former President George W. Bush, who also talked about bipartisanship, got comfortable when his party controlled Congress, and wound up slammed in the 2006 midterm elections.
Polls show Americans want politicians in Washington to put more effort into bipartisan cooperation. A new Rasmussen Reports survey found 65 percent of voters worry that Washington politics will get worse this year.
And 73 percent said they agree with Vice President Biden’s observation that “Washington right now is broken.”
Aubrey Jewett, a political scientist at the University of Central Florida, said when voters say they want “more bipartisan” cooperation, what they mean is more dignified behavior from politicians.
“They don’t like the excessive personal attacks and nastiness,” Jewett said.
By sending Obama out on the road with a triumphal, partisan message, the White House is trying to build on the momentum behind the health care win.
Much of the administration’s strategy in the days leading up to the vote was to declare passage a done deal, even though the outcome was uncertain up to the final hours.
Though the tone and the win work to rally the president’s base, there is a danger in turning off moderates, whose support the Democrats need in November.
“When elected officials have honest differences and strongly held beliefs, it’s a good thing to disagree and point it out,” Jewett said. “They shouldn’t just disagree for disagreement’s sake, and that’s where the public gets annoyed with the parties.”
House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio, whose impassioned floor speech on health care invoked “Armageddon,” warned that Democrats are emboldened by their win and will continue to push unpopular programs.
“President Obama and Democrats in Washington chose a partisan path and a costly big-government agenda,” Boehner said. “Democrat leaders are too blinded by their ‘Washington knows best’ attitude, too out of touch with the concerns of working families, to listen.”
