We are the ones really being screwed people.
Obama's Message to GOP by Appointing Lew Treasury Secretary
This is certainly a blow to any hope that Republicans might have had that Obama would flinch from his pledge not to negotiate over the debt ceiling. The president has said he will demand a clean bill raising the debt ceiling, unattached to any conditions or spending cuts.Here's how Manu Raju at Politico.com describes the tensions between Lew and Republicans:
(Read More: Get Ready: US May Hit Debt Ceiling by Mid-February)
To call Lew's relationship with Capitol Hill Republicans strained would be an understatement. According to some on the Hill, there just is no relationship anymore.
"We do not even bother talking to him," a staffer for a Republican senator said. (Read More: In Picking Lew, Obama Turns a Page at Treasury)
When Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell called Vice President Joe Biden as the deadline to cut a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff loomed, it was a sign of the tensions between the senator and Lew. McConnell had to create a new channel for negotiations because he could no longer go through the White House.
Several Republicans said Tuesday they don't view Lew as a man interested in hearing GOP concerns. One aide called him "tone deaf" in understanding the compromises that Republicans could accept during high-stakes talks."No matter what you're proposing or no matter what compromise you're trying to forge, he comes at it from a position of, 'Whatever you want, I have to be against,'" the GOP aide said. "It doesn't advantage him in the negotiation, he doesn't get a different policy outcome than he would otherwise. It just irritates people. … It's as much personality as anything else."
No comments:
Post a Comment