Obama Plays 'Gandhian Hardball'

(NEWSER) - GOP attempts to attack Barack Obama on the stimulus don’t appear to be working. According to a New York Times/CBS poll, three quarters of Americans, including 6 in 10 Republicans, believe the president is trying to act in a bipartisan manner, and most blame Republicans for objecting to the stimulus for political reasons. Most said Obama should pursue his campaign promises, rather than compromise with the GOP. More»

Chrysler ad a political football

(NEWSER) - God bless America ... and the Chrysler bailout ... seemed to be the message that left football fans misty-eyed after Clint Eastwood's Super Bowl Chrysler ad. It's "halftime" in America, and we're all pulling together for a brighter economic future, says the gravelly-voiced star. But Eastwood was opposed to the bailout that made the Chrysler turnaround possible, and now the ad has become a political football as Dems score points with it and the GOP tackles it, notes ABC News . “Saving the American Auto Industry: Something Eminem and Clint Eastwood can agree on," crowed White House spokesman Dan Pfeiffer on Twitter, referring to Eminem’s Chrysler ad during last year's Super Bowl. "Powerful spot," chimed in Obama re-election strategist David Axelrod. But George Bush's political maven Karl Rove snapped that he was "offended" by the ad, which he argued was orchestrated by the administration to paint a rosy future. More»

Rich: Make the Republicans get specific

(NEWSER) - President Obama took a "shellacking" because Democrats didn't have a coherent message for America. But, argues Frank Rich in the New York Times , the Republicans don't, either. To regain some ground, Obama must call the right's bluff, and force the GOP to get specific. The Republicans keep talking about repealing health reform—let's ask how, Rich says. Given the president's veto and some popular provisions, the task may prove rather "quixotic." More»

This election (and the next) is about the role of government: Krauthammer

(NEWSER) - Tuesday's vote will be a blast for Republicans, but "the direction of the country” won't truly be determined until the 2012 election, writes Charles Krauthammer. Until then, with Obama’s veto power and Democrats’ shrunken numbers, nothing much will get done. Still, the “beauty” of these next two votes is that they hinge on “a profoundly serious political question,” he writes in the Washington Post . It’s about the role of government and “the balance between liberty and equality.” More»

We're rehashing the stale debate of big vs. small government

(NEWSER) - David Brooks sees himself as an advocate of "progressive conservatism," which he says puts him at the center ("or a step to the right") of American politics. And he's not happy with the plight of the "broad middle" these days. He had hopes that Barack Obama could move the nation "past the old polarities," leading to a "revival" of the center, but it hasn't worked out that way. More»