Strong-armed politics by state or national parties is a sick, disgusting game. 

Just ask freshman Congressman Joseph Cao of New Orleans and Jefferson Parish.

There appears little doubt that he got a dose of the national party, “play it our way or the highway”. 

During the Stimulus bill debate, it is clear that Barack Obama wanted some partisanship, the Democrats wanted the bill written their way and the Republicans wanted to stick the stimulus package in their opponents’ faces.

So, here’s a take from Politico:

But Cao remained the most compelling storyline. The Vietnamese lawmaker shocked the political universe by knocking off indicted Democratic Rep. William Jefferson last year in the overwhelmingly Democratic New Orleans district.

He told reporters an hour or two before the vote that he was strongly considering a vote in favor of the stimulus measure after rejecting an earlier version – “At this point, I’m leaning ‘yes,’ but I’m not absolutely certain.” He reasoned that his heavily Democratic district could use the money with many of his constituents still struggling to rebound from Hurricane Katrina.

Beforehand, Cao acknowledged that Republican leaders had put “pressure” on him to oppose the package, and the party’s chief deputy whip, California Rep. Kevin O. McCarthy, stood near Cao during the entire vote.

“They encouraged me to vote ‘no,’ but they understand the needs of my district,” Cao said.

Then from The Hill:

“If even one House Republican flipped, someone — from, say, the White House podium — could conceivably call the vote “bipartisan.”

Republicans were a little like the defensive line of a football team lining up in their own end zone, trying to prevent a quarterback sneak.

And they did.

All eyes were on Castle, a centrist from the blue state of Delaware, and Upton, a centrist from Michigan, whose economy is in tatters. Republican leaders had identified them as the most likely defectors.

Those leaders also knew that Cao (La.), who stole away with a Democratic seat in a surprise victory over Rep. William Jefferson last year, was getting lobbied hard by the White House. And his district, nearly washed away by Hurricane Katrina, is heavily dependent on federal aid. Republican leaders fought back, saying the White House couldn’t say how it would help with hurricane relief efforts.

Castle and Upton entered the chamber together and walked to center aisle seats, where they sat together. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) quickly appeared by their side.

After the bell kicked off the vote, they took their time to vote as reporters analyzed their every move. A GOP leadership aide who closely monitored the vote theorized that the Castle and Upton watched for Cao’s position and felt reassured when the light next to his name turned up red, meaning a “no” vote.

It was said many times this week by Republican leaders that “there’s safety in zero.” And there was.”

What happened last week is exactly the reason I absolutely despise “party politics”, whether the organization is democrat or republican garden variety.

The very idea that party bosses (or even agents for the President of the United States) would be watching and bulldozing their wills upon independent legislators gives me the chills.

In Cao’s case, I think his recent vote could be the impetus to knock him off Capitol Hill in two years.

Which makes me really wonder--for whom do these politicians work for anyway?

Do they vote for the needs of their own constituents or for the desires of the party?  In the case of Cao, his constituents clearly wanted the stimulus to pass.  His party did not.  He opted for the party.  In the case of Senator Mary Landrieu, her state wanted the package to fail.  She voted for her party, the Democrats.

And, which makes me wonder why Governor Bobby Jindal is taking such a high-profile role in being the President’s anti-ego post-State of the Union Address next week.

For whom does he work and what is he after?  After prancing all over the nation for money, he indicated that he was against the package but has not stated whether he would refuse any of the money that passed Congress.

So, now he gets a plum of an assignment, speaking for the national party on post-Obama TV.

So, I ask, again, the obvious.  Is Governor soaking up this national exposure for himself or for his state?

Will he be telling the nation how Louisiana is virtually still last on most of the “good lists” and first on most of the “bad lists”?

Is he going to tell the country that large swaths of Louisiana are still suffering from major hurricanes and that our coast is eroding like the hopes of average Louisiana citizens who feel they live in a third-world nation?

Is he going to educate the nation on the critical importance of the Mississippi River, the wetlands and the coast as it relates to the rest of the nation’s economy?

I seriously doubt it.

Instead, my dollar says he will speak “National Republican Party talk” and not the voices of the people of Louisiana who cry for help and who frequently look for the closest Interstate seeking a new home.

Bobby Jindal, Mary Landrieu and Joseph Cao are not the only politicians who are following the party lines.  It is time for the elected officials to carry the message of the voters in their districts, not the message of their parties who really couldn’t care less about the voters back home.

Tip O’Neil said that “All Politics Is Local”.  Somebody ought to tell that to the national parties and some of the politicians who actually represent the people back home.  Pretty soon, the locals will wake up, smell the coffee and roast the beans off their own representatives.

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