King asked McCain if Obama has “failed the test he laid out at [an inaugural] dinner, to be truly bipartisan.”
“I’m afraid they have,” McCain replied. “And, look, they’ve got the votes. We understand that. They had the votes in the stimulus package, in the budget, in the omnibus, in the SCHIP [children’s health insurance], all this legislation. And they have picked off, sometimes, two or three Republicans.
“But that’s not changing the climate in Washington. What that is, is exercising a significant majority. And so I respect their successes, but please don’t call it changing the climate in Washington.”…
He said the $787 billion stimulus package has been a “handicap” for Democrats as they try to accomplish health care reform.
“The passing of the stimulus package and the huge deficit associated with that, I think harmed their ability to reform health care,” McCain said.
Yet, while raising concerns about the deficit, he also said “it’s very clear that the stimulus has had some affect.”
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