Obama Throws Like A Girl, Plays Hardball Like Bush

The president may throw like a girl, but his cabinet knows how to play hardball, according to Politico:

Earlier this week, the administration launched a coordinated effort to jam Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican who’s argued that the government should “cancel the rest of the stimulus spending.”

No fewer than four Cabinet secretaries wrote to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer — also a Republican — to ask her if she agreed with Kyl that it was time to turn off the state’s stimulus spigot. “If you prefer to forfeit the money we are making available to your state, as Sen. Kyl suggests, please let me know,” wrote Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

For good measure, he attached a three-page addendum listing each of the Arizona projects paid for by the $521 million the state is getting. Brewer knew she’d been thrown a high, hard one.

Bottom line: Shut up or we'll take your money away. How's that for Democracy in America today?

Echoes of George "My way or the highway" Bush
A senior administration official put it plainly: 

“You can either be for the recovery act or against it.”  

Bush was much more manly when he said it: "Yer either fur us or agin' us!" And it must be said he was referring to outsiders, although I would have loved to see him drag Leahy and Pelosi behind his horse, like Ben Cartwright in a Bonanza episode. Senator Kyle strikes back with facts:

“It’s unfortunate that President Obama and his administration seem unwilling to debate the merits of the stimulus bill and acknowledge its shortcomings,” the senator said in a statement.

“Instead, they have resorted to coordinated political attacks with the [DNC] and the politicization of departments of government by using Cabinet secretaries to issue thinly veiled threats to the governor and the people of Arizona.”

I admire Senator Kyle, but unfortunately, he's bringing an ink pen to a community organizer gang fight...