White House gains momentum in F-22 fight

politico.com ^ | 7/21/09 4:33 AM EDT | DAVID ROGERS

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

With a vote set for high noon on Tuesday, the political tide in the Senate has shifted to now favor the White House and Pentagon in their pivotal fight to strike new procurement funds for the F-22 fighter.

Just last week, conventional wisdom held that the $1.75 billion authorization would easily survive a challenge on the floor. But fearful of embarrassing President Barack Obama, Democrats appear to be moving back toward the White House, which has mounted its own late-breaking campaign to win the last votes.

[neodad]

Broken clock syndrome strikes again.

[neodad]

For the Senate, not Zero.

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

It’s a fight some Democrats would argue that Obama was foolish to make, raising the stakes unnecessarily with early veto threats. But the F-22 termination is Gates’s signature issue in changing the Pentagon budget. Once committed, the prospect of a loss became more and more intolerable for Democrats, threatening to hurt the president’s standing at a time when he is already slipping in some polls and faces a difficult fight over health care reform.

A key vote could be Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D., Mass.), a past F-22 backer who spoke with the Gates Monday. Kerry’s press office had no comment Monday night, but there has been speculation in the Massachusetts delegation that he may shift his position on the weapon system.

Lockheed Martin, the chief contractor, has stayed out of the fracas, in part because it also has a stake in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in which Gates wants to invest billions. But industry officials said there has been a clear shift in tone in recent days, and while the vote remains very close, Obama is now the favorite to prevail.

Republican undecideds are also crucial in what is a bipartisan fight on both sides of the issue. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and the committee’s ranking Republican, Arizona Sen. John McCain, are the chief advocates for striking the F-22 funds. Matched against them and the president are Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), whose home state has a major stake in the production of engines for the costly fighter.

[Tarpon]

And how isn’t ZERO an embarrassment to America. Maybe we should apologize to the world for ZERO.

[kittymyrib]

This is why Demint should have kept his mouth shut about a health care defeat being BO’s “Waterloo.” The Democrats will threaten any so-called “conservative” Democrats who dare to cause embarrassment to The Boss and puncture his balloon of invincibility. It’s the Mafia/Chicago way.

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

Spending Spree and Cutting Defense Don't Add Up

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

Yeah that waterloo remark was STUPID. It gave TOTUS a talking point is all.

[freebilly]

The Obama Administration, committed to making some of the stupidest decisions in America, the political equivalent of the Oakland Raiders....

[LibLieSlayer]

Treason at the highest level.

LLS

[myknowledge]

[SunkenCiv]

Just last week, conventional wisdom held that the $1.75 billion authorization would easily survive a challenge on the floor. But fearful of embarrassing President Barack Obama, Democrats appear to be moving back toward the White House, which has mounted its own late-breaking campaign to win the last votes.