Vetoing His Way into Relevance

Thursday is the day the House is planning to vote on a potential override of the Prez's veto of S-CHIP, the State Children's Health Insurance Program. I haven't seen a vote count lately, but I'd be surprised if enough Republicans jump ship. Even so, however, there were a couple of interesting developments today. Given that S-CHIP protects little children who are sick or injured, it's insanely popular with the public. A CBS poll released today finds that 81 percent of respondents favored expanding the program (via ThinkProgress). Only 15 percent oppose expanding it. But the Prez is valiantly standing with the 15 percent, and so, apparently, are enough Republicans to maintain that veto. I hope they probably take that stand before the voters next year.

At a press conference this morning, the Prez explained why he felt he had to veto S-CHIP. I'd offer my interpretation of what he said, but I'm not sure I understand it completely. Here's his explanation.

In this case, this bill started heading our way, and I recognize Republicans in the Senate supported it. We made it clear we didn't agree. They passed it anyway. And so now, hopefully, we'll be in the process. That's why the President has a veto. Sometimes the legislative branch wants to go on without the President, pass pieces of legislation, and the President then can use the veto to make sure he's a part of the process. And that's -- as you know, I fully intend to do. I want to make sure -- and that's why, when I tell you I'm going to sprint to the finish, and finish this job strong, that's one way to ensure that I am relevant; that's one way to sure that I am in the process. And I intend to use the veto.

He vetoed the bill to prove that he was relevant to the country. Guess what, W--you're not. A new Reuters/Zogby poll lists the Prez's approval rating at 24 percent. That doesn't sound like somebody who's overwhelmingly relevant. (And before anybody points it out, Congress did even worse, scoring only 11 percent approval. As far as I'm concerned, that's pretty much entirely due to their continual deference to Mr. 24 Percent. There's no point in having a Democratic Congress if they're going to do nothing other than cave to a wildly unpopular administration.) We need to beware of what else the Prez does to keep up his sprint to the end of his term (which is still about 15 months away) and prove that he still matters. As he gets more and more desperate to assert his importance, there's no telling what he might try to pull.