Obama and Hill Republicans avoid direct confrontation, target each other's surrogates

[Purveyor]

WASHINGTON - Congressional Republicans show no desire to demonize President Barack Obama, so they're condemning Democratic leaders instead. Democrats are finished with their favorite target, George W. Bush, so they're linking Republicans to a famous talk show host instead.

Call it deflection politics.

Listen to the No. 2 Republican leader in the House, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia. "We want to work with this president," he said Sunday. "We want people to regain their confidence in Washington. And what people are looking for is results."

But what of the $787 billion economic recovery legislation that not a single Republican in the House supported? That, Cantor said, was "Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi's stimulus bill."

Now consider White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. "It's our desire that the Republicans would work with us and try to be constructive, rather than adopt the philosophy of somebody like Rush Limbaugh, who is praying for failure," he said.

Six weeks into Obama's presidency, both sides are trying to divine the terms for public debate. Obama and Republican lawmakers clearly understand two things: The president is popular; raw partisanship is not.

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AP: http://tinyurl.com/awkwgk