Based on this Washington Post article, it's safe to say that David Obey is upset with the Bush administration. His logic, however, leaves alot to be desired:

A Democratic deal to give President Bush some war funding in exchange for additional domestic spending appeared to collapse last night after House Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey (D-Wis.) accused Republicans of bargaining in bad faith.

Instead, Obey said he will push a huge spending bill that would hew to the president's spending limit by stripping it of all lawmakers' pet projects, as well as most of the Bush administration's top priorities. It would also contain no money for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Absent a Republican willingness to sit down and work out a reasonable compromise, I think we ought to end the game and go to the president's numbers," Obey said. "I was willing to listen to the argument that we ought to at least add more for Afghanistan, but when the White House refuses to compromise, when the White House continues to stick it in our eye, I say to hell with it."

Rep. Obey is trying to 'stick it' to President Bush but he's actually creating the conditions for a total Bush victory to start the new year. While it's disgusting that he's pulling the war funding from the bill, it's good that they're stripping out all of the earmarks. I wouldn't exactly call that an even trade but I'm happy that they're getting removed.

What this means is that President Bush can push for a clean Iraq supplemental following the Christmas break. Rest assured that freshman Democrats will want to pass that bill rather than be seen as not funding the troops. The worst nightmare for these freshmen is to campaign with their GOP opponents having that as commercial ammunition.

Because he won't have the numbers, Obey will lose the entire shooting match. He will have stripped out the pork that President Bush wanted removed and he will have given President Bush an impressive victory to start his last year in office. It's difficult not seeing this as a win-win situation for Republicans. After all, Democrats will have played hardball with President Bush before losing the battle and the war.

I've criticized President Bush for not being a fiscal conservative because he wasn't. That's changing now that Democrats are the majority party. I just wish he'd vetoed bills in 2005 and 2006. If he had, Republicans might still be in the majority in the Senate.

Posted by: jeff at December 24, 2007 12:12 AM