Unleash the funding dogs of political war The inspiration for this came from a bottle. It was a cheap South African Chenin Blanc/Chardonnay on special offer from Safeway. As its contents slipped down, I stared at the label, Herding Cats, and realised there is no better metaphor for politics in Washington today and the problems confronting President Barack Obama. Gideon Rachman explained them at a cerebral level in this newspaper last week. The inclination here is to get down and dirty, and wonder if, or how, it is possible to exert pressure on the unruly felines. That would require Mr Obama to behave like Lyndon Johnson, which he won't, and the congressional leadership to behave as if they were Tip O'Neill and Everett Dirksen, able to ignore their screeching extremist wing nuts, which they cannot. Jurek Martin But pressure points must exist beyond the fear of being challenged in a primary election, most prevalent among the Republicans. For example, might it be possible to examine all the federal funding that goes to the district in Virginia represented by Eric Cantor, nominally Speaker John Boehner's deputy but the real puppet master of Republicans in the House of Representatives? Jack Lew, likely to be the next Treasury secretary, would surely know where all the funding bodies are buried. Next, a fight is brewing over the nomination of Chuck Hagel, the former Republican senator, to be the next defence secretary, on the grounds he is too soft on Iran and too hard on Israel, both anathema to the neoconservatives who still make noise but not policy in Washington. Opposition is being led by William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard magazine, formerly owned by Rupert Murdoch, and a frequent commentator on Mr Murdoch's Fox network; and John Bolton, George W. Bush's ambassador to the UN, who spent years at the state department trying to undermine Colin Powell, his boss. Also on the Fox payroll of "contributors," Mr Bolton is fresh off the repellent accusation that Hillary Clinton's bloodclot was a "diplomatic illness" confected to avoid having to testify on the Benghazi embassy debacle. Might Mr Bolton be influenced if his federal pension entitlement was somehow called into question? It sounds a bit Nixonian - he was forever unleashing the internal revenue dogs, not to mention the Federal Bureau of Investigation, on his "enemies." But you never know. And the magazine business is in trouble, witnessed by the imminent and actual demise of the print editions of Time and Newsweek. Mr Kristol's rag is no exception, and perhaps it can be arranged no copies are bought by a government agency. Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican vocal in his reservations about Mr Hagel, might also be subject to pressure. His independent streak has been overtaken by his role as mouthpiece for John McCain, increasingly irascible after his presidential election defeat in 2008. South Carolina has long had more military establishments per head than any other state in the union. Might not the mere threat of the budget axe falling more sharply on the Palmetto state influence Mr Graham? This is wishful thinking. Cutting defence spending has far less to do with the military's requirements than with the unholy nexus of power vested in politicians, contractors and campaign contributors. Even Democrats, notionally in favour of reducing the Pentagon's purse, balk if a military/industrial complex in their district is affected. Look no further than Steny Hoyer, number two to Nancy Pelosi in the House, whose southern Maryland constituency is stuffed with bases he has ensured remain almost inviolate. Some cats do respond to the human voice, especially if food is promised. Mr Obama has a fine one, likely to be displayed effectively at his second inauguration next week and at the subsequent State of the Union address. He is expected to wax eloquently on the need for immigration reform and gun control. He received ammunition for both last week from the Migration Policy Institute, the Washington think-tank that - full disclosure - my wife co-founded. It reported that the US spends more money on immigration enforcement than all other anti-crime agencies combined, even though the influx of illegal aliens has slowed. Rush Limbaugh attacked MPI as "a radical far-left outfit bought and paid for by George Soros," which is far from the truth, though his Open Society does give it grants. That is akin to the National Rifle Association reacting to the massacre in Connecticut by demanding every school bristle with guns.