Jan 21 2010

Reid poses another problem for the president

 

President Barack Obama must start every day wondering what could go wrong next.

His list of priorities includes two wars, a fierce battle over heath care, a struggling economy, a grim forecast for the midterm elections and questions about security — his during White House parties and the nation’s with regard to terrorists who manage to slip through all levels of protection with bomb-filled britches.

Now add to that list the president’s point man in the Senate admitting to using race-based slurs about Obama back when the president was a U.S. senator from Illinois.

Obama quickly cast the issue aside, saying that regardless of what Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said about him, what Reid does says more about the Senate Majority Leader. Obama defended Reid’s record on all the issues important to the president, particularly those involving race.

But Reid’s mea culpa and the president’s forgiveness have offered Reid no peace.

Republicans want him to step down as the Senate floor leader. Reid faces a stiff challenge for re-election in November and Senate seats remain critical to the Obama administration and Democratic agenda.

Both Obama and Reid have said the book is closed. But closing the book may be easier said than done.

And I suspect that as I am writing this blog, a range of people from bloggers to party hacks are scouring Reid’s life to find more ammunition to use against him.

Sometimes, big hits — such as “the panty bomber” as columnist Kathleen Parker recently called him — are much easier to deal with than festering wounds of smaller magnitude. Like the generals say, a foot soldier with a blister can pose a bigger problem that one with a bullet wound.

So, what’s Obama to do?

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