Obey Raises the Specter of War Tax

Unlike another tough-talking Democratic leader, Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), there is no Sarah Lawrence degree in Obey's background, and he is no media-seeker. In his new book, "Raising Hell for Justice," Obey recalls lean days after his parents' divorce, when a delivery of charity groceries left him too ashamed to face the givers.

Of all the people who "drive me up the wall" he said, two stand out: "people who question your patriotism; people who don't understand the pressures on people who are just hanging on by their fingernails."

Said Obey's longtime friend Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), "His view is that government has the moral responsibility to make a difference, and that's why he's here.

However, she said: "He doesn't suffer fools. Not on our side, and not on the other side."

His anger, colleagues say, is powerful but is not always useful. "He is very, very smart," says a longtime Democratic colleague who did not want to be named because he does not want Obey mad at him. "But sometimes he dismisses people."

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Obey and other congressional leaders sat down with Bush in the White House Cabinet Room to discuss homeland security spending: Then, as now, Congress wanted more, and Bush wanted less.

"Bush walked in, and before we could say a word, he said: 'If you appropriate a dollar more than I've asked for homeland security, I'll veto the bill. . . . I've got time for four or five comments, and I'm out of here' -- and that's virtually an exact quote," Obey recalls.

"When it came my turn I said, 'Mr. President, I've been coming down here for 30 years, and you're the first guy in that chair who's ever told me his mind was closed before the subject was even opened.' "

"I cannot tell you what a profound effect that meeting had on me," he said. "I was absolutely thunderstruck at the arrogance."

Two weeks into the start of the 2008 fiscal year, Democrats so far cannot agree on a strategy to deal with Bush's veto threats. Nobody knows the bills better than Obey. But the fight will test him.

"I don't have the luxury of creating policy in my image," Obey said. "I push forcefully for what I believe. But if I sense there's a different balance point, that's where I have to go."

So is that how he will negotiate with Bush?

"I wish we were heading into a negotiation with the president," he said. "It's obvious to me that the White House is determined to dig in and not compromise one dime."