Attack ads don’t help

Attack ads don’t help

Washington Post: President Obama says he wants a new era of bipartisanship. Among the areas where he is sure to need bipartisan help are foreign aid and fixing the nation’s credit system. So why is the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee taking cheap shots at Republicans for their votes in those two areas?

The hits come in radio ads that the DCCC began running this week against 28 Republican incumbents for their opposition to Mr. Obama’s stimulus bill. That’s fair enough; the stance on the bill is a major fault line between the two parties. But the ads also contrast the Republicans’ opposition to stimulus with their votes “to bail out big banks,” in some cases, and for “building new schools in Iraq,” in others.

The first reference is to last fall’s vote on the Troubled Assets Relief Program, which Obama and Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Md., chief of the DCCC, both supported — and rightly so. The second is to a 2005 vote on emergency funds for Iraq that passed 386 to 43, again with Mr. Van Hollen in the majority — again, rightly so. A spokeswoman for the DCCC says the ads are merely seeking to draw a contrast between past and present votes.

OK. But when Obama reaches out to Republicans for help on, say, Afghan reconstruction or rescuing the banking system, he shouldn’t be surprised if they reply, “How dumb do you think we are?”