Do Attacks on "Obstructionism" Work?

Peter Nicholas reports in the Los Angeles Times: "As voters lose patience with political gridlock, the Obama administration is embarking on a strategy aimed at putting Republicans on the spot: Either participate in bipartisan exchanges initiated by the president, or be portrayed as the party of obstruction."

This line of attack is not new. Republicans tried it in the run-up to the last midterm election.

Republican National Chairman Ken Mehlman, April 25, 2005:

Some of today’s reactionary Democrat leaders have even embraced the ultimate symbol of obstructing progress in America. Today’s Democrat party has become the party of the filibuster.

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Without solutions to today and tomorrow’s problems, and determined to obstruct progress, many Democrat leaders have rejected an honest and civil dialogue in favor of trash talking and name calling. Senator Reid has called the President a “liar,” accusing him of being “drunk with power.” Nancy Pelosi has called the President “morally irresponsible,” “an incompetent leader. . .In fact he’s not a leader.”

Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), April 4, 2006:

This is a Democrat Party that has no agenda. Can't come up with an agenda. Has no solution. All they've got is the strategy of personal destruction and character assassination and it hasn't worked in the past. It isn't going to work in the future. They are a permanent minority party.

Roll Call, September 13, 2006:

Republican aides said the GOP is hoping to leverage this year's difficulty in moving high-profile legislation as a way of tarring Democrats as obstructionists - and also as a warning of what could happen if Democrats take control of either chamber in November.

A senior Republican leadership aide explained that the GOP will argue not only that "Obstructocrats" are "delaying the good things of this Congress" but also that "putting them in charge in next Congress doesn't mean a change of direction, but just flat-out gridlock."

Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS), Congressional Record, September 14, 2006:

Mr. Speaker, we have looked through the material that is available from the minority leader's office and other publications. We have yet to find the vision that the Democrats are presenting. They have no such vision. They have been lately the ``party of no,'' and they have really developed no plan to lead this Nation.

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The fact is, energy prices are down, and they are down because of the policies of a Republican House, not down because of the naysaying Democrats, the obstructocrats, that have been trying to stop everything that has come through this House floor in the last year.

In the 2006 midterm election, Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate.