Republicans believe, based on the polling data, that Barack Obama is far too popular to attack directly. This has been clear from their rhetoric and their approach even before the inauguration. While on Capitol Hill yesterday, I was reminded of this fact repeatedly.

  1. Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio), speaking on Obama’s proposal for health insurance, offered conciliatory words: “I think that having Senator Ted Kennedy involved in this process would help us get to a solution. That’s what the American people want, they want solutions…I think if there’s a way to provide every American with access to affordable, quality health insurance, we ought to find a way to get it done.”
  2. On the omnibus, Boehner helpfully declares that he has the votes needed to sustain a presidential veto. He is daring the president to keep his promises on spending, but does anyone believe that President Obama is going to make nice and veto his own spending bill?
  3. After that, I spoke by telephone with New York State Assemblyman Jim Tedisco (R), the Republican candidate favored to replace Kirsten Gillibrand in the U.S. House. He expressed clear disagreements with many of Obama’s positions on both social and fiscal issues, but his comments on Obama himself and his performance were extremely kind: ”I think he’s trying hard, he’s trying to do the best he can for the country. Some of it is good, and some of it is not so good.” (Obama, who carried his Congressional District, is extremely popular there.)
  4. I had a few conversations about Sen. Sam Brownback (R, Kan.), a stalwart pro-life legislator who could not even pay lip service in opposition to Obama’s appointment of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D). This despite her unusually deep connections, even for a pro-choice politician, to some of the most unsavory characters in the abortion industry. Along with Pat Roberts, his fellow Kansas Republican senator, Brownback released a statement anticipating healthy dialogue and discussion with her once she is in Obama’s administration: “It’s an honor for the State of Kansas to have an elected official appointed to the president’s cabinet…We will be able to pick up the phone and talk directly with the secretary about issues that are important to Kansas.”
  5. Again, Obama’s omnibus spending bill, which is huge and contains several troubling policy changes. Among other things, it could yank two of Sasha and Malia Obama’s classmates out of their good school and put them back into a terrible school, all because of Democratic obeisance to teachers’ unions, which want to eliminate the District of Columbia’s school choice program. It is barely shy of the votes it needs for passage, but not for lack of a few Republican votes.

To be fair, both Boehner and Tedisco expressed reservations about some aspects of President Obama’s agenda. But the general tone, wherever Obama is personally involved, is one of agreement – not of resistance – even as he moves some very scary legislation through Congress.

Perhaps Republicans are simply mounting the best opposition they can under difficult circumstances. But we’re seeing this administration demonize bankers, plan new taxes for domestic energy producers, bail out irresponsible borrowers and lenders, make it harder (with “cramdown”) for responsible people to get mortgages, nationalize major companies that should fail, and bend over backwards for union bosses (with the Employee Free Choice Act). In less than 50 days, Obama has spent more than three times the cost of the entire Iraq War so far. This year, he will more than triple the largest deficit of the Bush era.

And what we’re hearing from Republicans is that they want to work with the president in a bipartisan fashion, to find solutions, and that it’s an honor to have someone from their states serving in his administration.

It almost seems silly to say it, but in addition to presenting alternatives, it’s also okay for Republicans to criticize President Obama for what he is doing and proposing. Why should Jim Cramer become the president’s most vocal critic?