| Though the timing of the two events was purely coincidental, Gov. Tim Pawlenty and President George Bush have made official their threatened vetoes, Bush to the Iraq supplemental funding bill and Pawlenty to a major public works bill providing $334 million in funding for roads and transit projects.
Is it reasonable for either man to veto these bills? Of course not. But what choice do they have? The war, regardless of its role in crushing the President's approval rating to sub-Nixonian levels, is all Mr. Bush has left. Pawlenty, isolated in state government since his party hemorrhaged legislative seats in the last election, must burnish his reactionary, anti-tax-no-matter-what credentials, either for national use or to survive with his own activist base in 2010.
What is the short-term impact of these moves? For President Bush, it delays the inevitable. Congressional Democrats know what they're doing, and although they certainly have a task before them, they are consistently wearing down their Republican counterparts on benchmarks and orderly withdrawal dates. The next bill they send to Bush's desk will be even more stringent and will cause Bush even more pain in sending back to Capitol Hill.
For Pawlenty, the effects may be more severe. The last time a public works bill didn't make it into law by session's end was 2004, and in case the governor has forgotten, that was the first of two consecutive elections in which his party received a firm pummelling.
In 2008, could the Republicans again lose seats, making future veto overrides not just a possibility, but downright likely? Eagan, Apple Valley, Burnsville, and the rest of the southern suburbs continue to grow and shift from red to blue -- Republican Lynn Wardlow held onto his seat in 38B by a razor-thin margin. Several other Republicans in the suburbs are facing stiffer and stiffer competition from energized DFL units with smart, capable candidates carrying their banners.
A pyrrhic victory is defined as one that comes at too high a cost. Gov. Pawlenty would do well to remember his party's poor results in the past two elections, despite his record of razor-thin pluralities. Too many obstructionist vetoes against the will of the voting public and his electoral victories could prove to be pyrrhic indeed. |
