Designed to fail

I honestly did not know this until today, but Obama didn't consult with any of the Democrats in Congress before rolling out his latest stimulus plan:

This is why a competent White House would have asked their allies in the one chamber of Congress their party still controls for input before writing the bill.  Their failure to engage with their allies had Senate Democrats publicly blasting the plan earlier this week, ruining Obama’s strategy of blaming Republicans for stalling on his jobs bill.  If the White House can’t even convince Democrats to take the plunge with Porkulus II: Economic Boogaloo, Republicans will argue, then why should they?

As Ed Morrissey points out, there are already five Democrats in the Senate who have publicly voiced opposition to the so-called jobs bill which is enough to sink the bill in the Senate; this explains why Harry Reid has not even introduced the legislation.  The Democrats see the handwriting on the wall: Obama intends to throw them all under the bus as part of the the "do-nothing Congress" to enhance his odds for re-election.  Understandably, some of them up for election next year have a problem with that.

Think about it: if Obama really wanted to pass this jobs bill, he would have consulted with Congressional leaders to determine what was possible and what could be compromised.  As a minimum, he would have sat down with Congressional leaders for his own party to ensure a unified front.  Finally, if you want to win over the opposition, you might want to cool the rhetoric of calling Republicans unpatriotic

.But then Obama didn't want a jobs bill - he wanted an issue.

It is already crystal clear that Obama’s Stimulus II can’t even pass the Democratic Senate, let alone the House.  It is such an obviously transparent play to try to set up his own re-election as Harry Truman redevivus, but the political mistake Obama has made is thinking that Democratic Senators whose own poll numbers are collapsing ... will want to be his advance guard and vote for a suicidal measure on his behalf.

Memo to Obama: you're not fooling anybody, despite your Smart Power.