Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Obama's second 100 days appear to be tougher than the first

Queen Victoria had to wait 50 years to celebrate her Golden Jubilee and receive unprecedented ceremonial adulations of her subjects. Barack Obama only had to wait 100 days for such treatment. Okay, I'm exaggerating just a little, but Politico notes that the president's second 100 days will be a little tougher for him.

This whole second 100 days thing is already proving to be tougher for the Obama team – and their biggest problem seems to be Democrats in Congress.

Just yesterday Democratic appropriators took away Obama's Guantanamo prison closure money, added money he didn't want and then warned that Afghanistan money wouldn't last past next year unless real progress is made. And then Democrats began picking at what should be a slam dunk: closing offshore tax loopholes. But folks like Max Baucus, the Finance chairman and Rep. Joe Crowley, worried about his multinational banks in New York, were a bit cool on the tax crackdown. These Dem squabbles come as the party remains divided over a sweeping global warming bill.

On the Republican side, Obama now has to play ball with Jeff Sessions as the top GOP senator on Judiciary, throwing an uncompromising conservative into the Supreme Court nominee negotiations.

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