President Obama at his First News Conference

Barack is back, baby!

That’s what liberal bloggers are writing about the President’s first prime-time newser where he seemed to get some of his campaign mojo back. With the stimulus bill on it’s way to passing the Senate and then facing a potentially messy time in the sausage factory known as “conference committee” where the House and Senate versions must be meshed, Obama came out firing.

It began during his first road show Monday afternoon in Indiana and continued at the White House: “I’m happy to get good ideas from across the political spectrum, from Democrats and Republicans. What I won’t do is return to the failed theories of the last eight years that got us into this fix in the first place, because those theories have been tested, and they have failed. And that’s what part of the election in November was all about.”

Republicans have been pretty masterful over the last couple of weeks in helping Americans forget who won the election in November by successfully repositioning the “stimulus” bill as a “wasteful spending” bill. Aided by 24/7 cable anchors who were incapable of rebutting almost any arguments made by Republicans (or Democrats for that matter), the GOP stole the show.

So what if Obama had said this early and often:

“More than 90% of the jobs created by this plan will be in the private sector. These will not be make-work jobs, but jobs doing the work that America desperately needs done. Jobs rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, and repairing our dangerously deficient dams and levees so that we don’t face another Katrina. They will be jobs building the wind turbines and solar panels and fuel-efficient cars that will lower our dependence on foreign oil, and modernizing a costly health care system that will save us billions of dollars and countless lives. They’ll be jobs creating 21st century classrooms, libraries, and labs for millions of children across America. And they’ll be the jobs of firefighters, teachers, and police officers that would otherwise be eliminated if we do not provide states with some relief.”

All of that is TRUE. There are honest arguments among economists about whether the government should be helping to create these jobs or whether the amount of taxpayer money used is a good investment but the underlying facts (as we have pointed out for two solid weeks here) remain the same. Almost all the money being spent will be used to do things that require workers. And that means jobs.

For now it looks like the President took the risk of reaching out to Republicans and ended up getting his hand bitten. Maybe. But perhaps that’s exactly what he wanted. Republicans got the upper hand on Congressional Democrats more than they did on Obama. If anything he has gained power at the expense of Senate and House leaders. And Monday night we got a glimmer of how Obama’s bipartisan political game ought not be underestimated.

When Chip Reid asked Obama if he had underestimated “how hard it would be to change how Washington works?” the President tipped his hand:

“You know, when I made a series of overtures to the Republicans, going over to meet with both Republican caucuses, you know, putting three Republicans in my cabinet — something that is unprecedented — making sure that they were invited here to the White House to talk about the economic recovery plan, all those were not designed simply to get some short-term votes. They were designed to try to build up some trust over time. And I think that, as I continue to make these overtures, over time, hopefully that will be reciprocated.”

In other words, I made a real concerted effort but…

“There seems to be a set of folks who — I don’t doubt their sincerity — who just believe that we should do nothing. Now, if that’s their opening position or their closing position in negotiations, then we’re probably not going to make much progress, because I don’t think that’s economically sound and I don’t think what — that’s what the American people expect, is for us to stand by and do nothing.”

…if the folks who got us into this mess (Republicans) are so crazy as to want to let America fail, what more can I do?

Obama risked a bit of his political capital during the opening days of his Presidency but it may just be that between Rush Limbaugh and the Republican Congressional leadership, conservatives fell right into his trap. He’s the adult. They believe the earth is flat.

Of course if the economy stills sucks and people are still losing their jobs in a year, none of this will much matter. Presidents get blamed (rightly and mostly wrongly) for the economy and this time will be no different.

Then again Reagan took his lumps early with a brutal recession and then rode to a landslide reelection in 1984. Obama is a student of politics and history. He could do worse than emulating Reagan on that score.