Guess it’s easier to be a grandstanding Congressional Republican than a Republican governor who must balance actual budgets:
WASHINGTON — President Obama must wish governors could vote in Congress: While just three of the 219 Republican lawmakers backed the $787 billion economic recovery plan that he is signing into law on Tuesday, that trifling total would have been several times greater if support among the 22 Republican state executives counted.
The contrast reflects the two faces of the Republican Party these days.
Leaderless after losing the White House, the party is mostly defined by its Congressional wing, which flaunted its anti-spending ideology in opposing the stimulus package. That militancy drew the mockery of late-night television comics, but the praise of conservative talk-show stars and the party faithful.
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Governors, unlike members of Congress, have to balance their budgets each year. And that requires compromise with state legislators, including Democrats, as well as more openness to the occasional state tax increase and to deficit-spending from Washington.
Funny how the question of stimulus isn’t actually as partisan in real life as the Congressional Republicans would have us believe. Not sure why, but this reminds me of all those armchair warriors leading up to war in Iraq.
Reflections of Ryberg 