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| President Obama, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner |
McConnell said it
was THE
NUMBER ONE LEGISLATIVE PRIORITY to make President Obama a one term
president. Not creating jobs; not
improving infrastructure; not raising the minimum wage to a livable wage; not
guaranteeing women equal pay for equal work – no legislation that would
directly benefit the American people.
McConnell and the GOP focused on obstruction. As far as making sure President Obama was a
one term president, McConnell and the GOP failed MISERABLY. President Obama was handily re-elected in 2012. The Republicans have obstructed him at every
turn – from cabinet appointments, to judicial appointments … on EVERYTHING. Now the Republicans are asking voters to put
them in control of the Senate and thereby giving them control of the country’s
legislative agenda since they already are the majority party in the House. Mitch McConnell will realize his lifelong
political dream in becoming Senate Majority Leader and the Republicans and
their base will be satisfied because they are and have been absolutely OBSESSED
with obstructing President Obama.
To many in the GOP base, it will
be the ultimate political ORGASM. Their mission will be accomplished. Or WILL it? Barack Obama still is the President of the United
States and he holds the POWER of the PEN. In order to forward their agenda the
Republicans will HAVE TO negotiate with President Obama. GOP control of the Senate would be great for
President Obama.
Getting a bill through the House that is not loaded with extreme far right fringe pleasers will be a challenge for Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. The main obstacle will be the Tea Party’s RAW hatred of the president. Boehner has failed MISERABLY when it has come to controlling his caucus. The Tea Party wing of the House is not INTERESTED at all in compromising with Democrats and especially President Obama. If a bill manages to pass in the House, the Tea Party wing of the Senate will drink from the trough marked “Obstruction”, too. The main renegade will be the Canadian born junior Senator from Texas, Ted Cruz. Cruz has demonstrated that he has greater control of House Republicans than John Boehner does. He led and convinced Tea Party members in the House to shut the government down in September 2013. The Republican establishment was LIVID with Cruz and his minions. Since Cruz and Libertarian/Republican Rand Paul will both be candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, there will be major jockeying for position in the Senate as those two fight to see who will be the favorite in the nomination chase in the Senate. To use street parlance, there will be some major “muscle measuring” between those two. What will be lost in all the grandstanding will be the interest and NEED for Republicans to prove they can GOVERN. Many in the Republican establishment have acknowledged they will have to prove they can govern if their party is to have ANY chance of capturing the White House in 2016. Another factor is the Senate map in 2016 will be more favorable to Democrats because there will be (number) of Republican Senate seats up for grabs in blue states and voter turnout will be much higher in the presidential election year. Republican control of the Senate will be on a short 2 year leash. Again, they have to GOVERN and not OBSTRUCT. It will be interesting to see how the elephant chips will fall in the GOP caucus.
Meanwhile,
President Obama is squarely in the driver’s seat now. Instead of him reaching out to Republicans,
the Republicans will be in the position where they have to come to HIM. To the chagrin of many progressives, the
president went out of his way in his first term to get Republicans to work with
him when they had NO interest in doing so.
McConnell will attach riders to legislation that is headed to the
president’s desk the president won’t favor in an effort to force President
Obama’s hand in either signing the bill or veto the bill which could lead to a government shutdown.
It won’t work. Barack Obama will not run another
campaign. He has nothing to lose by
standing firm now. He can top off his
legacy by making Republicans jump through hoops to meet HIS demands. The Republicans certainly won’t be in a
position to CRY about obstruction; considering they obstructed for six YEARS. They won’t be able to campaign against how
ineffective Democrats are because THEY – the Republicans – will control
the legislative agenda. To win the White
House in 2016, they need some accomplishments to hang their hats on. I imagine President Obama is licking his
chops.
The Republicans
decided to obstruct at every turn on January 20, 2009 and they did just
that. They wanted to weaken the
president with the hope of defeating him in 2012. They FAILED. They obstructed and blamed the president for
not getting anything done and rode that obstruction into gaining control of the
House in the 2010 midterm elections. They
were rewarded. Conservatives will gloat
about taking control of the Senate without really telling voters what they WOULD
do. Their 2014 midterm strategy was “we’re
not Obama”. Privately, reasonable
conservatives will view taking control of the Senate as a huge RESPONSIBILITY,
not a reward. They will be in the
position where they will have to deliver the goods. They also know the Tea Party wing of their
party is out of control and has only demonstrated they are good at gumming up
the works. It is a classic case of be
careful what you ask for because you just may get it.
GOP control of the
Senate would be great for President Obama.
Peace, peace.
Craig Riggins
Facebook: The Riggins
Report
Twitter:
@CraigRiggins
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