Dealing With The Devil To Control The Senate

I really like Kimberley Strassel at the Wall Street Journal.  Every column she does is full of tight reporting and analysis.  Here latest is no exception, as she sheds some light on Obama's efforts to woo John McCain to gain control over the Senate:

In the press event before Barack Obama's summit with John McCain this week, a reporter asked if the meeting was anything more than "symbolic." You, and Mitch McConnell, can bet it was.

Contrary to most reporting, Mr. Obama's meeting with his rival wasn't aimed at a cabinet post, or even at a show of national healing. It was directed, pure and simple, at co-opting Mr. McCain's help against what Mr. Obama understands is now his biggest obstacle: Senate Minority Leader McConnell.

Cynical? Nah. If Mr. Obama has demonstrated anything, it is that he always has a smart eye on the future. He knows his big agenda is headed straight for the bitter trenches of the Senate. Democrats aren't likely to get the 60 seats they need to automatically cut off a filibuster. They will have to pick off Republicans.

Standing in the way is Mr. McConnell, one of the shrewdest Senate operators in recent history, and a man who knows the institution inside-out. He also knows what his members want, and what he can demand in return.

The minority leader is already crafting ways to keep his caucus together to block Mr. Obama's more destructive proposals. If the new president wants 60 votes, he's going to have to fight for them, vote for vote.

And Mr. Obama is betting Mr. McCain is ripe for some easy picking. The Arizonan wore his conservative cloak heavily in the campaign. While his concession speech was certainly gracious, it also hinted at a man itching to get back his reputation as a "maverick." His presidential ambitions now finished, Mr. McCain will also be looking to use his remaining Senate time to ensure his place in political history.

A few of the passions to which Mr. McCain will turn to cement his legacy are shared by the president-elect. The most obvious is global warming. Senate Democrats' most recent attempt to break a filibuster on climate-change legislation, in June, had the support of at least 54 senators. After this month's Senate reshuffle, Harry Reid is going to be tantalizingly close to breaking the barrier. Mr. Obama wants Mr. McCain's help.

The question is this: What else might Mr. McCain be prevailed upon to fulfill his pledge to help the new president? He won't likely budge on issues that he has used to build a career -- say, controlling spending and earmarks. But others? He ran on a free market health-care plan, but it wasn't a comfort zone. He promised to retain the Bush tax cuts but once voted against them. He was the architect of the Gang of 14, a Senate dodge on stalled Bush judicial nominees. On these questions and more, Mr. Obama's hope is not just to win over Mr. McCain, but to set him up as an example that other GOP members should follow.

If the Democrat has any grasp of history, he also knows Mr. McCain and Mr. McConnell are not pals. This grump dates back more than 10 years, when Mr. McCain tried to pass a federal settlement for tobacco-related lawsuits. Mr. McConnell, who hails from the tobacco state of Kentucky, was instrumental in blocking that bill.

The minority leader also annoyed Mr. McCain by refusing to join his campaign-finance pilgrimage. As head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee in the late 1990s, Mr. McConnell stymied Mr. McCain's efforts to outlaw money. When Mr. McCain finally birthed his campaign-finance baby, it was Mr. McConnell who sued to have it repealed. While the minority leader was a soldier in the recent McCain run, the Arizonan is known for nursing grudges. He may not go out of his way to help Mr. McConnell. He might, in fact, use his super-senator status to trump him. This, at least, is Mr. Obama's hope.

Finally, the new president knows he can count on help from the media. Mr. McCain once joked that the press corps was his true "base," only to see that constituency turn on him when he dared to act like a Republican. From the sounds of the cooing noises that greeted his concession speech, the media are now urging Mr. McCain to get back in their good graces. They will help by making sure that on any occasion Mr. McCain joins with his party he is ignored, while any time he strikes out on his own he is elevated to the "Republican standard bearer," who is "leading" his party in a bipartisan direction. We're about to discover if Mr. McCain's long-term memory for slights extends to the Fourth Estate.

The McCain wooing is in line with a broader Obama strategy to make nice for votes. Sen. Dick Lugar has been mentioned as a potential secretary of state, the mere suggestion of which might win Mr. Obama some gratitude. Independent Joe Lieberman was just allowed to keep his top job as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, despite the desire of many Democrats to exact retribution for his support for Mr. McCain's presidential campaign. Mr. Lieberman singled out "an appeal by President Obama himself" as the key factor in his rescue. He will be reminded of that help often.

As for Mr. McConnell, he was just unanimously re-elected by his caucus to the top post. Let the games begin.

Knowing McCain's tendency to leap across the aisle for a picnic, and knowing how much he loves the spotlight, this is a truly disturbing warning sign.  Once again, I would refer you to just how good bipartisanship is for conservatives.  If Obama can wrestle control of the Senate, this country is going to take a severe turn to the Left, and some of the things he has promised to accomplish -- universal health care, disastrous global warming policies, gutting the military, the Fairness Doctrine, etc. -- are things that will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, from which to recover.

Buckle your seatbelts, it's going to get bumpy.

There's my two cents.