Democrats throw public punches at their president

[brianna69]

Congressional Democrats have not been shy in publicly ripping President Obama during his first two months in office.

The Democrats’ willingness to take on the new leader of their party stands in stark contrast to how GOP lawmakers dealt with President George W. Bush.

While the Bush White House clashed with Capitol Hill Republicans, they mostly did so behind closed doors.

Democrats prefer to have their fights with the White House out in the open.

Many Democrats in Congress, ranging from leadership lawmakers to rank-and-file members, have criticized Obama in major newspapers and on cable TV shows.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) didn’t give the president’s $3.6 billion budget proposal much time to get legs, swiftly calling Obama’s plan to raise revenue by cutting farm subsidies “dead on arrival.”

“This is a very stupid idea,” Peterson said

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on MSNBC in late February that Obama’s plan to leave 50,000 troops in Iraq was too much, asserting she did not “know what the justification” was. Pelosi noted she thought about 20,000 troops would be sufficient.


House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) threw the equivalent of a brush-back pitch at Obama earlier this month, after the White House started talking tough on reining in the use of earmarks.

Hoyer, who chooses his words carefully when dealing with the media, told reporters, “I don’t think the White House has the ability to tell us what to do. I hope all of you got that down.”

And this week Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), one of Obama’s most enthusiastic surrogates throughout the presidential campaign, sent out a press release boasting that she was challenging her party’s standard-bearer to reform earmark spending.

The White House declined to comment for this article.

cont...
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/democrats-throw-public-punches-at-their-president-2009-03-18.html

As I've said before, it is democrats who will be the real enemies of the president not repugs.

[marmar]

1. I think "enemies" is a bit of overstatement.....I'm an Obama supporter, but no president's agenda...

..... should sail through unchallenged. If we've learned anything from the last 8 years, that should be it.

[trayfoot]

2. So sad, but true. Throw in Evan Bayh and his comrades.

[BeyondGeography]

3. Cutting farm subsidies is a great idea

Obama might have to raise the revenue cap beyond $500K, but those cuts are going to happen. Sorry, Collin.

[Thrill]

4. This guy Peterson is an idiot. Dorgan has been calling for cutting those subsidies for a while