GOP quietly acknowledges Daschle's skill

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle has been called an obstructionist by Vice President Dick Cheney, a bad faith negotiator by Speaker Dennis Hastert and empty headed by Rep. Bill Thomas, a senior House Republican. And that's just in December.

Privately, Republicans acknowledge Daschle's skill, while hastening to add it is employed in the service of partisanship.

"He has a very soft glove and he has a very nice demeanor," says Sen. Rick Santorum, the Pennsylvania Republican. "He feels he won't take any heat for being an obstructionist."

There is no doubt that Daschle, D-S.D., has exercised his power with determination in the six months since Democrats gained control of the Senate. That was painfully clear to Republicans and the White House when he successfully led the battle to shelve President Bush's economic stimulus plan last week.

But the soft-spoken and genial Daschle disputes the charges that he's an obstructionist.

"I believe that if one looks at the record this fall and the plethora of legislation passed on an overwhelming bipartisan basis, it is hard to make that accusation with any credibility," he said.

Daschle became majority leader when Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont bolted the GOP last summer to become an independent allied with Democrats. Since then, he has put a Democratic stamp on the agenda while also giving strong support to Bush's war against terrorism.

He delayed action on energy legislation after wresting control of a bill from a committee that could have approved oil exploration in protected wildlife refuge lands in Alaska.

When Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., dispatched an aide to seek a patients' bill of rights compromise with the White House, Daschle relayed concern that any agreement -- likely to involve limits on lawsuits -- would prove difficult to move through the Democratic ranks. The bill, a top Democratic priority, was deferred until an election year.

When Bush's nominee for a State Department post, Otto Reich, sought help in gaining a hearing from a reluctant Senate Committee, Daschle meet with him but declined to intervene.

Some defeats

Daschle has had setbacks.

Republicans held ranks this month to defeat a Democratic anti-terrorism spending proposal the White House deemed too large. And the GOP held together to prevent the Senate from passing a Democratic farm bill that Republicans said was too costly.

Daschle has lent Bush rhetorical and visible backing on the war against terrorism since Sept. 11.

Legislation to prop up the airline industry, a measure to authorize the use of force to respond to attacks and billions of dollars for recovery moved quickly last fall as Democrats rushed to support the commander in chief. An anti-terrorism bill followed.

And Daschle greeted Bush with a nationally televised hug in the House of Representatives after the president's post-attack speech.