House Ideologues Surprise Biden
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on February 13th, 2009 5:39 am by HL
House Ideologues Surprise Biden
WASHINGTON — When Joe and Jill Biden moved to Washington on Jan. 20 as he took up his duties as vice president, they moved their bed down from the family home in Wilmington, Del. But unlike their predecessors, the Gores and the Cheneys, who already lived in the Washington suburbs and had houses filled with furniture they were ready to transfer to the official residence on Massachusetts Avenue, the Bidens had empty rooms to fill. His 92-year-old mother remains at their Wilmington home and the Bidens have been back there every weekend except the last, when he was in Munich to address an annual security conference that is an important gathering of Russian and NATO officials.
Stronger, Please, Mr. President
Having allowed his Republican opponents to dominate the economic debate for two weeks as his stimulus proposal languished, President Obama used his first news conference to rebut them — coolly and civilly, yet without leaving any doubt that he can strike back harder if necessary. He drew the lines that had to be drawn, calling out the opposition’s hypocrisy on spending and identifying conservatives whose answer is to do nothing (except cut taxes for the rich, as always). For the White House, the strategic issue is whether he waited too long to confront the stimulus critics — and how he will balance bipartisanship with toughness in dealing with the recalcitrant Republicans from now on.
