With the Senate lost, Obama prepares to be his own obstructionist (Grind the wheels to a halt.) President Obamas assertion that - since Republicans have taken control of the Senate - its not enough for them to simply to grind the wheels of Congress to a halt. As usual, Obama neglected to mention that Harry Reid, his obstruction czar, had denied votes on hundreds of Republican-passed bills. For the entirety of Obamas tenure, Reid has served as a sort of firewall which prevented uncomfortable bills from reaching the Presidents desk. Now, the AP has noted that the President faces a new reality - one in which he can no longer rely on obstructionist allies to protect him. Hell have to fire up the veto pen and become his own obstructionist: Since taking office in January of 2009, Obama has only vetoed legislation twice, both in fairly minor circumstances. But with Republicans set to take full control of Congress next year, Obama is losing his last bulwark against a barrage of bills he doesnt like: the Senate. I havent used the veto pen very often since Ive been in office, Obama said in an NPR interview airing Monday. Now, I suspect, there are going to be some times where Ive got to pull that pen out. He added: Im going to defend gains that weve made in health care. Im going to defend gains that weve made on environment and clean air and clean water. In other words: If the GOP tries to undo any of my boondoggles, Im going to stop them. I worked long and hard on these disasters, and theyre not going to undo everything now. Mitch McConnell claims that hes ready to have the ideological fight. Bipartisan jobs bills will see the light of day and will make it to the Presidents desk, and hell have to make decisions about ideology versus creating jobs for the middle class, McConnell said in response to Obamas comments. Theres a lot we can get done together if the president puts his famous pen to use signing bills rather than vetoing legislation his liberal allies dont like. The problem here is that most of the agenda which Obama really believes in will fly directly in the face of widespread job creation. Thats going to be the crux of the battle, and its going to lay the groundwork for 2016. Will Democrats be willing to embrace pro-business, pro-job, legislation if it means sacrificing a few sacred cows? Probably not, since their base wont tolerate any move that they perceive as a move to the right. The goal for the GOP should now be to pass as much legislation as possible, regardless of whether or not Obama will sign it. Force him, over and over if necessary, to veto conservative bills, and then play the P.R. game to make sure voters know exactly what his partys ideology really is. At the same time, force Hillary to take sides on every single one of the bills, and build a war chest for the next presidential election.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 23:58:59 +0000
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