By Karl Rove
A photo-op is not the same as compromising on policy.
Last Friday President Obama met with House Republicans in Baltimore. He took questions parried criticisms and allowed all of it to be put on television.
Framed as an opportunity for the president to hear from the other side Mr. Obamas real aim was to portray Republicans as obstructionist and boost his own public standing in the process.
Afterward Gallup found that Mr. Obamas approval hit 51 up from 47 after the State of the Union address two days earlier. But in winning that small victory Mr. Obama also further poisoned his relationship with Republicans by repeatedly saying things that are demonstrably not true.
For example when Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling asked if the presidents new budget would like your old budget triple the national debt and increase the cost of government to almost 25 of the economy Mr. Obama denied it. But thats exactly what Mr. Obama proposed doing in his budget framework that Congress passed last April according to both Congressional Budget Office and White House documents.
In Baltimore Mr. Obama criticized the GOPs response to last years $787 billion stimulus package saying I dont understand . . . why we got opposition . . . before we had a chance to actually meet and exchange ideas.
In truth the president met with congressional Republicans to talk about the stimulus package the day before the press said Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey completed drafting the 1073-page bill. What occurred was a photo-op not an exchange of ideas. Democrats at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue were scornful of Republican input.
When Georgia Republican Rep. Tom Price complained in Baltimore that the president kept saying that Republicans have offered no ideas and no solutions Mr. Obama shot back I dont think I said that.
But of course Mr. Obama and his people have said that repeatedly. They did so starting in April when White House aides swarmed Sunday talk programs to label the GOP the party of no and say that the party lacked both constructive ideas and vision.
Republicans did score a small victory in Baltimore. They got Mr. Obama to admit that the GOP has offered ideas on health-care reform economic growth and spending restraint. But that doesnt mean the president will now draw on any of those ideas.
Mr. Obamas problems remain reality rather than optics. Over the past year he hemmed himself in by leaving it to Democratic congressional leaders to draft his health-care reform and other items of his agenda and by not pressing those leaders to negotiate with Republicans.
Until Mr. Obama changes those practices the country will see more party-line votes in Congress albeit with increasing defections among vulnerable Democratic members.
The next battle brewing in Washington is over the presidents proposed budget released earlier this week. Under Mr. Obamas blueprint federal spending would rise to $3.8 trillion in the next fiscal year up from $3.6 trillion this year. The budget is filled with gimmicks.
For example the president is calling for a domestic nonsecurity discretionary spending freeze. But that freeze doesnt apply to a $282 billion proposed second stimulus package. It also doesnt apply to the $519 billion that has yet to be spent from the first stimulus bill. The federal civilian work force is also not frozen. It is projected to rise to 1.43 million employees in 2010 up from 1.2 million in 2008.
As Mr. Obamas approval ratings have dropped the White House has been consoled by the Republican Partys poor image. But thats changing. Since last October Democrats dropped from a 30-point net favorability to a one-point advantage over the GOP today according to a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll.
The fall of support for Democrats is also reflected in the generic ballot. Since October Democrats have gone from six points up (49-43) to three-points behind (45-48) according to Gallup. The GOP has a seven-point (45-38) lead in the latest Rasmussen generic ballot survey.
Every week it seems more bad news accrues for Mr. Obamas partywhether it is a bad poll a lost election or a new retirement of a House Democrat in a competitive district. Democrats are in the midst of the painful realization: Mr. Obamas words cannot save them from the power of bad ideas.
Mr. Rove the former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush is the author of the forthcoming book Courage and Consequence (Threshold Editions).
