PRESIDENT BARACK Obama is sharpening his political message in preparation for tough, partisan battles ahead following the withdrawal of his most prominent Republican cabinet nominee and the opposition party’s rejection of his economic stimulus plan.
The House of Representatives was close to approving the final version of the stimulus Bill last night with no Republican support and the Senate is likely to follow suit today. Mr Obama plans to sign the Bill into law on Monday, launching a flood of cash into the struggling American economy in the form of tax cuts and public spending projects.
New Hampshire Republican senator Judd Gregg announced on Thursday night that he no longer wanted to be Mr Obama’s commerce secretary, citing “irresolvable differences” over policy.
The White House responded with a chilly statement asserting that Mr Gregg, who is one of the most fiscally conservative members of the Senate, had asked the president for the cabinet job.
“Senator Gregg reached out to the president and offered his name for secretary of commerce. He was very clear throughout the interviewing process that despite past disagreements about policies, he would support, embrace, and move forward with the president’s agenda,” said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.
“Once it became clear after his nomination that Senator Gregg was not going to be supporting some of President Obama’s key economic priorities, it became necessary for Senator Gregg and the Obama administration to part ways. We regret that he has had a change of heart.”
Mr Gregg yesterday disputed the White House version of events, insisting that he did not lobby for the post of commerce secretary. “There was an intermediary who came to me and said: ‘Would you be interested in doing this?’ And I said I would listen. I don’t think anybody was campaigning for this. I know I wasn’t.”
Mr Gregg is the fourth of Mr Obama’s nominees to withdraw his name from consideration. The president’s first choice for commerce secretary, New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, ruled himself out after it emerged that he was under investigation for an alleged pay-to-play arrangement with a political donor.
Former senate majority leader Tom Daschle withdrew as a nominee for health and human services secretary because of unpaid taxes and Nancy Killefer, who was set to become chief oversight officer, stepped aside because of a similar problem.
Timothy Geithner was confirmed as treasury secretary despite admitting that he failed to pay all his taxes while working for the International Monetary Fund a few years ago.
Mr Gregg insisted his decision to stay in the Senate had nothing to do with vetting but was on account of disagreements over the president’s $789 billion stimulus package and a move by the White House to oversee the conduct of the 2010 census.
The census has traditionally been the responsibility of the commerce department but African-Americans and Hispanics pressed for a White House role because they claim that minority numbers have been underestimated in the past.
“Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns,” Mr Gregg said. “We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy.”
Mr Gregg’s withdrawal is the latest blow to the president’s efforts to reach out to Republicans and Mr Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, acknowledged to reporters that the White House may have put too great an emphasis on overcoming the partisan divide.
“There’s an insatiable appetite for the notion of bipartisanship here and we allowed that to get ahead of ourselves,” he said.
Republicans rejoiced at Mr Gregg’s decision, praising the senator and signalling that they have little appetite for Mr Obama’s bipartisan vision.
“I love this talk about post-partisanship,” California congressman Dan Lungren told a Georgeton University conference yesterday.
“What is post-partisanship? You find that the people who call themselves post-partisan are essentially saying, ‘we’ve decided where the answer is. Come and join us’.
The White House suggested that although Mr Obama would continue to reach out to Republicans, he planned to make an aggressive case for his economic policies.
Addressing business leaders yesterday, the president said that following the passage of the stimulus Bill, he would turn his attention to shoring up the housing market, reforming financial regulation and expanding access to healthcare.