Is Republican Infighting Helping Obama?

[WestVirginiaRebel]

NY Times:

Has Republican squabbling given President Obama a chance to recover his political footing just as his re-election year begins?

Deep divisions among Congressional Republicans have led to political gridlock on the extension of Mr. Obama’s popular payroll tax cut, producing an issue that the president has been using to hammer his opponents as out of touch with middle-class Americans.

That legislative dispute is playing out against the backdrop of an increasingly nasty — and potentially drawn-out — Republican presidential primary, in which the attacks against Mr. Obama have temporarily faded into the background while the contenders assail one another.

And now, a new survey suggests that the view of Mr. Obama in the eyes of the general public has begun to improve just as he prepares to make the case for another term in the White House. A Washington Post-ABC poll on Monday put his approval rating at 49 percent, his best since the spring.

And the poll suggests that the public’s estimation of him has increased as its approval of Republicans in Congress has plummeted. Just 20 percent approved of Congressional Republicans. The poll also found that Mr. Obama holds a 15-point edge over Republicans in Congress on the question of who does a better job of protecting the middle class.

Mr. Obama still faces steep challenges, including a fragile economy with high unemployment that could yet go higher before Election Day next November. And the rhetorical honeymoon from the Republican presidential candidates will abruptly end as soon as they pick a nominee.

But in the meantime, aides to the president said they are pleased with the progress Mr. Obama has made in better communicating the contrast between himself and his Republican opponents.

“He has been very effective since the summer in consistently presenting his economic message, which speaks to the need, not just to recover from the recession, but to rebuild the economic security the middle class has lost,” said David Axelrod, one of the president’s top political advisers.

“And it’s been a pretty stark contrast with what’s going on on the other side,” he noted.

Republicans in Congress have been trying to maneuver blame for the payroll tax on Mr. Obama by linking approval to an oil pipeline deal that the administration had delayed. But that tactic became more difficult after a deal was reached over the weekend with Senate Republicans. A two-month extension of the tax cut passed 89-10, one of the most bipartisan votes in recent memory.

On Monday night, House Republicans refused to accept the two-month deal embraced by their party colleagues in the Senate. Mr. Obama and his Democratic allies pounced, blaming conservatives in the House for standing in the way of a deal just days before Christmas.

Jay Carney, the president’s press secretary, earlier in the day expressed dismay about a “situation where the things that have broad bipartisan support, have broad, broad American public support, cannot get done because a sub-faction of one party in one house basically dictating the direction of the majority in that house. It makes it very difficult.”

House Republicans explained their opposition to the two-month deal as a desire to have a year-long extension of the tax cut. “House Republicans don’t believe we should have to settle for tax policy in two-month increments,” one senior aide said. “That’s no way to govern, and it’s no way to help our economy.”

But even some Republican strategists said Monday night that party leaders in the House had put their members in a very difficult position.

“Democrats are clearly on the high ground of reasonableness here,” Steve Schmidt, who helped run Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, said on MSNBC. “When you’re in a rock-throwing fight, you always want to be on the side that’s throwing the rocks downhill.”

He added: “It’s not a great fight for the Republicans.”
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I think it's a fair point. Opposition is good, but not in a potentially losing battle.