wallstreetdaily Have Republicans Thrown in the Towel? Published Fri, Dec 5, 2014 | Floyd Brown, Chief Political Analyst Share In the wake of the historic elections that gave Republicans control of the U.S. Congress, Republican Speaker John Boehner has a new tactic for confronting Obama… The strategy is simple: Toss your campaign promises in the garbage, and immediately surrender. I call it “the white flag strategy.” You see, if Republicans preemptively give Obama everything he wants before the conflict, maybe nobody will notice they’re even in power. At the same time, if something goes wrong down the road, the Republicans can easily shift blame accordingly. But will this game produce a win for the conservatives in the long haul? All throughout the fall of 2014, Republicans campaigned unceasingly against Obama’s executive order that gives illegal aliens amnesty if they get Obamacare. They’ve gone to great lengths to fight Obama’s policies, or so voters believe. As part of the “issue management” regime, Boehner even scheduled a vote against it. But patterned after the multitude of votes the House took against Obamacare (which never affected the implementation of the unpopular program), this vote against amnesty is intended to relieve pressure with the voters, but has no policy impact. So Boehner’s “symbolic vote” is for nothing more than show. And it has big support in the Lame Duck Senate – which is still headed by Harry Reid until next January. (Reid has called Boehner’s plan a “big accomplishment.”) Reid is quoted as saying, “The American people certainly won’t want to face another year being governed by crisis… No one wants the kind of cliffhanger fights we’ve had again and again in recent years.” And while the Republican Party finally has the opportunity to defund Obama’s program, it’s too afraid of a “partial government shutdown” to act. Ultimately, what you’re witnessing firsthand is an example of the Washington, D.C. elites, who always claim to be at loggerheads, coming together to protect big government. Don’t for a minute buy the propaganda that the Speaker John Boehner is powerless. He has everything he needs to combat Obama’s policies. But he chooses not to because he’s figured a way to appease the president and manipulate the voters. After all, why do what you promised when you can get ahead by doing the opposite of what you promised the voters? Simply campaign hard against executive abuse of power, winning the voters’ affection, and then turn a blind eye and allow Barack Obama to do what he pleases as president (to keep the peace). It may be a great strategy in the short run… but in the long run, people will figure out the duplicitous game. Boehner may be laughing now, but he’ll likely be crying when Republicans lose the presidency because the excited voters who turned out to support the Republicans in 2014 are nowhere to be found in 2016. Your eyes on the Hill, Floyd Brown Floyd Brown boasts a lifetime of political involvement, ranging from political appointee in the Reagan campaigns and consultant to the Bush, Dole and Forbes presidential campaigns - to his current role as the President of the Western Center for Journalism, a nonprofit dedicated to informing and equipping Americans who love freedom. Learn More
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 15:37:23 +0000