Can’t. Or…?
By Mitch Berg
The Bad News: Eric Cantor ais making “Sturdevant Republican”-style noises:
Early last week, Cantor talked like a man ready to make amends for the unanimous Republican “no” votes on President Barack Obama’s budget and economic stimulus plan.
“As we near the end of the first 100 days of this administration,” Cantor told reporters, “I think we can also reflect back and see that the era of bipartisanship we’d hoped for could probably be improved upon, and I believe that’s how we’ve come back from the Easter recess, to say to the president that we do want to work together, that we can actually unite.”
The good news: Maybe it only looks like he’s drinking Capitol Hill Koolaid. Maybe he’s really spitting it into the flower pots when nobody’s looking:
But headed for a meeting with the president at the White House Thursday, Cantor and other House Republican leaders couldn’t resist picking at the scab. They sent Obama a letter praising him for his “common-sense idea” that “Washington can work together for the American people instead of for political parties” — but also claiming that Democratic leaders in Congress had “ignored your call for a new era of bipartisanship in Washington.”
Remember, Rep. Cantor: when Democrats are out of power, “Bipartisanship” means “reaching across the aisle and cooperating”. When they are in power, it means the same thing it means to a Marine recruit at Parris Island.
