Here’s the latest from me on Obama’s efforts to reach out to Dem moderates on the FY2010 budget. His case was probably not helped much by the omnibus which most moderates hated though were coerced into voting for it – to the point that Claire McCaskill took Chuck Schumer to the carpet outside of last week’s Senate policy lunches. I’ve never seemed Schumer so abashed, and I never thought to write the words Schumer and abashed in the same sentence.
McCaskill told me yesterday that Dems need to do a better job distinguishing between programs. To the public the litany – TARP, auto bailout, TARP2, stimulus FY09 budget, FY10 budget – has all rolled into one giant slushy fund of money – one easily poisoned by the appearance of things like earmarks. Which is probably why Obama took pains today to overhaul the earmarking process. “We’re all feeling the pressure and it’s counterintuitive to people. They’re so upset because they’re all saving money and counting every penny,” McCaskill said, riding the little underground train from the Capitol to her offices in Hart. “A lot of people are confused between TARP, bailout, omnibus, stimulus, budget — to most of them it just sounds like a heck of a lot of money.”