By James Downie

Late last month, Obama’s well-crafted State of the Union, and his successful appearance at the House GOP’s conference in Baltimore went a long way to reversing the momentum Republicans gained from Scott Brown’s special election success and health care’s near failure. Of all of Obama’s counterattacks, few were better received than when Obama pounced on Republican hypocrisy on the stimulus: after admonishing the GOP in the State of the Union that “the responsibility to govern is now yours as well,” he reminded them in Baltimore that  “a lot of you have gone to appear at ribbon cuttings for the same projects that you voted against.”

Three weeks later, it’s more clear than ever that this line of attack, even more than the White House’s (welcome) return to populism, is the secret to combating the Republican Party this fall. For awhile now, liberal outlets, especially ThinkProgress and Rachel Maddow, have been covering the GOP’s game of bashing the stimulus while in Washington and then trumpeting its benefits in their home districts; ThinkProgress’s latest report counts over 110 different representatives and senators who’ve pulled this stunt, including “leaders” like Eric Cantor, John Boehner, and Mitch McConnell. That’s more than half of the GOP representation in Washington; it is now literally easier to make a list of Republicans in Washington who aren’t hypocrites. Even conservative outlets are starting to take notice: recently, both the Washington Times and the Wall Street Journal have written articles highlighting GOP hypocrisy. In addition, if this weekend’s Sunday talk shows were any guide, it will be difficult for Republicans to criticize the stimulus in public without being pushed on their private requests for funding.

Building on this argument is key to Democratic victory in the fall not just because it demonstrates the Republican Party’s disinterest in sticking to their own principles, but because it clearly demonstrates the positive job-building effects of the stimulus. Despite the stimulus having created over 1.5 million jobs, only six percent of Americans currently believe the stimulus created any jobs at all. Reversing this perception requires redoubling efforts to put evidence of the recovery in front of the voters, and, for that issue, there’s no better weapon to use against the GOP than their own words.