Obama Chicago-style tactics in Washington?

AP Photo

There is beginning to a smell of the Chicago stock yards in Washington as President Barack Obama is being criticized for using  Windy City tactics in forcing his wild spending bills through Congress.

Republicans are protesting about the Obama programs to expand health coverage and tax greenhouse gas emissions without their input.

In the Washington Post (3/18/09), Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) is quoted as saying

That would be the Chicago approach to governing:  Strong arm it through....You are talking about the exact opposite of bipartisan.  You are talking over the minority, putting them in cement and throwing them in the Chicago river.

Gregg briefly considered joining the administration as commerce secretary but who bowed out when Obama tried to take the coming census out of the Commerce Department and put it under control of the White House. He was referring to Obama's Chicago past where he was associated with the Daley machine and many politicians who are either already indicted, waiting for sentencing or in jail.

At issue is the short cut, known as "budget reconciliation" that would roll Obama's health and energy programs  into a bill that cannot be filibustered, meaning Democrats could use the tactic of pushing it through the Senate with 53 votes instead of the usual 60. Then they would not even need the support of troublesome moderates in their own party.

The tactic is being used by the House Democrats to avoid a repeat of the debate over the economic pork-filled stimulus package, where their wild spending spree was somewhat modified to appease moderate Democrats and Republicans in the Senate. 

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D. Ark.) said that the tactic would create

kind of a divisive atmosphere...(it) would just be sticking them (Republicans) in the eye.

Lincoln is one of seven Democrats who last week joined 21 Republicans senators in declaring their opposition to using the tactic to push through Obama cap-and-trade legislation which

...is likely to influence nearly every feature of the U.S. economy....and to put it on fast-trac would be inconsistent with the administration' stated goals of bipartisanship, cooperation, and openness.

There is a growing uneasiness among the American public about the way Obama and the Democrats in Congress do the nations does business.  It is becoming more apparent all the time, from his White House and cabinet choices to the way pork-filled bills are rammed unread through the House and Senate, that the lessons Obama learned and used in Illinois have found a place in Washington.