Across the Aisle

GOP Govs Love Obama

Jump on board for stimulus.

Though President Obama’s stimulus earned only three of 219 congressional Republican votes, his foray into bipartisanship may not have been the complete failure some are making it out to be: Republican governors, like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Charlie Crist, have supported the measure, reflecting, reports The New York Times, “the two faces of the Republican Party these days.” Republican governors have been practicing a pragmatic conservatism because they are required each year to balance their budgets, and Obama’s stimulus will help them cover their shrinking tax bases. Obama’s plan includes $135 billion in aid to state governments, although that covers only half of the projected state budget deficits through 2010.