How's It Playing? The Auto Quandary And Tarp II

Editorialists are getting used to the administration's new approach to the auto bailout. The Kansas City Star counsels that President Obama must ensure that government supervision is "based primarily on the broad public good rather than narrow political interests in Washington." A number of recent editorials and op-eds also grappled, in one way or another, with the Gregg debacle and GOP opposition to the stimulus, and the long-term implications of these developments for the Republican Party.

Ron Dzwonkowski, a columnist for The Detroit Free Press, says Republicans could take their "principled" stand against the stimulus only because they knew the Democrats had the votes to pass it.

 

The Birmingham (Alabama) News says Obama's handling of the stimulus has lacked bipartisanship and transparency. The editors argue that he should not have waited until the congressional Democrats had shaped the package before asking for Republican input and support.

 

The publisher of the New Hampshire Union-Leader says Judd Gregg made the right decision in resigning, arguing that there was no chance he would have been heard by the administration on fiscal and business issues.

 

By contrast, Concord Monitor columnist Mike Pride says Gregg "is in danger of becoming the poster boy for his party's decision to channel Herbert Hoover and play politics while America suffers."

 

The Dallas Morning News says Gregg's resignation highlights how important it is for the White House to avoid politicizing the census. "Trading out Karl Rove for Rahm Emanuel isn't the kind of change America deserves," the editors argue.

 

 Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Cynthia Tucker says the Republicans are playing the same old politics on the stimulus bill - in Washington and in state houses around the country.