Obama is getting ready to
shoot down the Keystone pipeline bill in the first of what promises to be a blizzard of vetoes of legislation the current Congress is planning to pass.
Never mind that the Keystone
bill passed with bipartisan support in the Senate 62-36 (nine Democrats joined) and
in the House 266-153 (28 Democrats
joined; although there will have to be
another vote in the House within the next few days to align the two bills, it is expected to go similarly).
From
The Hill:
Still, if Obama vetoes too many bills, especially ones with Democratic support, Republicans could have success portraying him as partisan and unwilling to negotiate.
“One veto doesn’t make him obstructionist,” said James Thurber, a professor of government at American University. “Now maybe after 3, 4, 5 vetoes, then they could start painting him that way.”
Portraying him.
Painting him. Not, of course, that he
is that way.
Here's a statistic: since January, Obama has issued eight veto threats. That's "the most ever for the start of a new Congress."
Obama thinks this projects strength, and to his supporters it most definitely does. When the Republicans---even when in the majority in the House, and even with Democratic support---tried to block something Obama was attempting, their actions were painted as unreasonable and stubborn obstructionism. Now, when Obama plans to block what a Republican-majority Congress has done, even when those Republicans have a significant amount of support from moderate Democrats, it's a show of strength and resolve.