Word: obstructionist
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...years. In 2000, when voters elected a closely divided House and Senate, most pundits prophesied that Republicans and Democrats would learn to work together. Instead, the past two years have been marked by complete gridlock. And despite the constant Republican refrain this fall that Tom Daschle is a tyrannical obstructionist, both parties are to blame. Republicans in the House have spent most of the past six months passing bills they know Senate Democrats will never touch, just so they can tout them during the campaign. Neither party has been willing to sit down and work out compromises...
...Daschle lost this fight last year, when the surpluses were fat and the world was safe, but he was confident enough in it this winter to stare Bush down on the economic stimulus package and get called "obstructionist" by Dick Cheney. And now he's going to fight Bush's agenda, and eventually his budget, all the way to November. That's because Sept. 11 supposedly made Americans once again comfortable with a big, protective government...
...governing tool, courted conflict with Newt Gingrich, Bob Dole and even Democrats, Bush thought charming the congressional leadership would yield better results. Like his father, Bush puts politicians into two breeds: on the one hand, "good men" (and women) who can get things done, and on the other hand, obstructionist poseurs. And good men can hail from either party. It's why Bush gives out his highest praise to liberal archenemy Ted Kennedy. "He can get things done," Bush told TIME at the end of an Oval Office meeting with the Massachusetts Senator on the education bill, which passed last...
...pull Dick Cheney aside and say, "That's the real Tom Daschle." Republicans blocked the expensive farm bill Daschle and other farm-state Democrats wanted, and Daschle, in turn, blocked the pro-business economic-stimulus package Bush had backed. By December the White House was calling Daschle an "obstructionist...
...acted more like one in the first weeks after the terrorist bombing--speedily authorizing Bush to use force, passing $40 billion in emergency disaster relief, approving a $15 billion bailout for airlines--last week they were back to their old bickering. Senate majority leader Tom Daschle branded the Republicans "obstructionist" for their opposition to airport-security legislation. Attorney General John Ashcroft and Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy blamed each other for holding up antiterrorism legislation. And House Ways and Means chairman Bill Thomas abruptly postponed a vote in his committee on giving the President new authority to negotiate trade...