Here’s the latest from me about President Obama and Speaker Pelosi’s relations. There’s also a report out today that Blue Dog Rep. Jim Cooper told Liberadio on Sunday that he got “quiet encouragement” from Obama’s staff to organize a letter signed by 55 House Dems criticizing Pelosi for not putting the stimulus through regular order.
The Obama folks “know it’s a messy bill and they wanted a clean bill,” Cooper said. “Now, I got in terrible trouble with our leadership because they don’t care what’s in the bill, they just want it pass and they want it to be unanimous. They don’t mind the partisan fighting cause that’s what they are used to. In fact, they’re really good at it. And they’re a little bit worried about what a post-partisan future might look like. If members actually had to read the bills and figure out whether they are any good or not. We’re just told how to vote. We’re treated like mushrooms most of the time.”
I’m guessing that this quiet encouragement was outside of Pelosi’s ground rules for Rahm.