PrintJune 13, 2009
The way the world works - Obama style
How's this for bullying someone on your side?
The White House is playing hardball with Democrats who intend to vote against the supplemental war spending bill, threatening freshmen who oppose it that they won't get help with reelection and will be cut off from the White House, Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) said Friday. "We're not going to help you. You'll never hear from us again," Woolsey said the White House is telling freshmen. She wouldn't say who is issuing the threats, and the White House didn't immediately return a call. [UPDATE: White House spokesman Nick Shapiro says Woolsey's charge is not true.]
Woolsey said she herself had not been pressured because the White House and leadership know she's a firm no vote. But she had heard from other members about the White House pressure.
"Nancy's working with it. It's going to be a very close vote," Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Penn.), a close ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Friday. "We don't have any Republican leeway, so far we have no Republican going to vote for it."
The piece by Ryan Grim at Huffpo goes on to explain the the GOP is not backing the supplemental because of an IMF funding provision - the same reason many Democrats oppose the bill. Much of that cash might go to bail out European banks - a prospect that most Republicans can't stomach.
There is also opposition because Democrats want to stop war funding now. And that includes their self professed "good war" in Afghanistan. Grim also reports the netroots are backing opposition to the funding.
If Obama is playing that kind of hardball with his own people, imagine what he'll do to you if you're an opponent?
