Republicans take a wait-and-see attitude on the
eve of President Obama's State of the Union
address Tuesday. 'We're going to find out … how
much of this he really means,' says Senate
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Washington — Republicans say
Tuesday's State of the Union address will be the
first test of whether President Obama's post-
election shift to a more centrist course is more
than symbolic.
Tuesday's State of the Union address will be the
first test of whether President Obama's post-
election shift to a more centrist course is more
than symbolic, Republicans said Sunday in the
lead-up to his speech.
"We're going to find out beginning next week
how much of this he really means," Senate
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in an
interview on "Fox News Sunday." "It is kind of a
trust-but-verify moment. Let's see if he's really
willing to do it, and if he is, I think he'll find a lot of
help among Republicans in Congress."
After an electoral "shellacking" in November,
Obama embraced a compromise that extended
the Bush-era tax cuts, retooled his West Wing to
include more moderate voices, such as his new
chief of staff, William Daley, and made new
overtures to the business community.
His polls have rebounded as well on the eve of
his second State of the Union address, passing
the 50% threshold in a series of major surveys.
Addressing supporters in a video message
released Saturday night, Obama said his speech
Tuesday would focus on creating jobs and
American competitiveness, as well as the nation's
deficit challenges.
Though calling for some budget cuts, Obama
also is expected to call for additional spending on
infrastructure and education. That raised red flags
among Republicans.
"This is not a time to be looking at pumping up
government spending in very many areas,"
McConnell said.
"When the president talks about competitiveness,
sure, we want America to be competitive," U.S.
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said on "Meet the Press."
"We want to cut and grow. When we hear invest
from anyone in Washington, to me that means
more spending."
Cantor, leader of the new House Republican
majority, said Republicans will press for serious
spending cuts in response to the expected vote
this spring on raising the nation's debt limit.
Thursday, a group of conservative House
Republicans and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) unveiled
a spending plan that would cut $2.5 trillion from
the federal ledger. Republicans more broadly
campaigned in 2010 on returning spending to
2008 levels, a proposal that will be debated this
week in the House.
First, though, Republicans pushed forward a vote
to repeal Obama's healthcare-reform law. It
passed the House on Wednesday, and Senate
Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), also appearing
on Fox, acknowledged that "it's possible we'll face
that vote," despite Democrats' objections, if
Republicans move it as an amendment.
If so, said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.),
Democrats would respond by calling for votes on
specific portions of the law that are popular.
"In the end, their repeal bill is going to be so full of
holes it looks like Swiss cheese," he said on CBS'
"Face the Nation."
Sen. John McCain supported a repeal vote in the
Senate, adding that there already was agreement
with Democrats on ways to improve the law.
McCain, Obama's rival in the 2008 election, also
praised the president's shift in tone.
"I think there's common ground because I think
the president realizes, as a result of the November
elections, that the American people have a
different set of priorities, and so we should seize
that opportunity for the good of the country," he
said.
Calls for unity have manifested themselves in a
move, largely initiated by Democrats, to break
from the tradition of sitting along party lines
during the speech. Durbin joked that when he sat
with his new Republican colleague Sen. Mark Kirk
(R-Ill.), "I'm bringing the popcorn. He's bringing a
Coke with two straws."
"I don't have a date," Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison
(R-Texas) joked on ABC's "This Week."
"I'm available," Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.)
responded.
McCain said he would sit with Democratic New
Mexico Sen. Tom Udall and that he hoped the
new arrangement would cut down on
unnecessary interruptions that he said distracted
from the speech.
But McConnell said the symbolism was
overblown.
"The American people are more interested in
actual accomplishments on a bipartisan basis in
the next six to nine months than they are in the
seating arrangements in the State of the Union,"
he said.
Source: Http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sc-dc-state-union-20110123,0,7544808.story
