don' throw me in that briar patch mr. congress

and it feels good to be back in the blogosphere....

today i'd like to express my thoughts on the issue of the size of obama's bailout package. i've been following this closely via brad delong, tpm, krugman and nate silver and mulling over what obama's strategy appears to be.

first off, nearly everyone i tend to respect agrees that the size of the bailout package is too small and that it is disproportionately tied to tax cuts. i, too, tend to think that's the case based on the reasoning behind it.

does obama know this?

i think he does.

then it's deliberate?

i think it is.

why would his opening proposal be too small?

i tend to believe it is driven largely by his desire to forge a working relationship with congress. by offering a "modest" proposal, when measured by the number obama floated of 1 trillion, he invites congress to fill in the blanks. once a congressman has filled in his blank with one of those good ideas obama was talking about, why then he becomes committed to seeing the bill pass and taking some credit.

the idea is to develop a working partnership wherein congress can contribute as many good ideas as it likes and take all of the credit so long as they continue to move in the direction obama wants. in short, obama is really trying to re-integrate congress back into its proper constitutional role, but, in a manner conducive to getting his legislation passed.

there are several pieces of the puzzle that seem to fit when viewed through this lens. obama's retention of a large number of senate staffers and former clinton insiders should increase his ability to get things through congress, think lbj. in these cases, i believe that they have been taken aboard despite ideological differences, for their technical expertise in the arcane area of legislation. here they will be putting their skills to use from the top down as obama likes to say.

obama's television appearances practically beg for input from congress. give me good ideas he says.

the framework offered by obama is thought to be a step in the right direction everyone agrees and congress has been explicitly invited to the table.

it's also consistent with that old straw about FDR listening to a plan he agreed with and then challenged the proponent to "make me do it."

going about this way also includes the additional benefits of keeping his campaign promise to lower taxes and includes a tax cut in the bill for the republicans.

but what if you're wrong?

you mean, what if congress can't get it's act together and function as a legislative body?

yes.

well, then, obama might have to resort to the stick of the public arena and use his popularity based on the reasonableness of his requests to shame congress into towing the line.

does anybody remember rick warren?