As the President's 2014 State of the Union approaches one can't but reflect that while he had the right agenda last year-immigration, the minimum wage, unemployment-the Republican Congress thwarted him at every turn.
I'd like to be an optimist that this year will be different but have to admit that I can't see why the GOP will be more reasonable this year. I do see that on some things they'll probably be a little less crazy-I think they may finally see that debt ceiling chicken and govt. shutdown chicken are kamikaze missions-though even on this Boehner's words lately have been somewhat ambiguous.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/22/1271757/--A-Clean-Debt-Ceiling-Raise-Won-t-Pass-in-the-House-Boehner-spokesman
While I don't think Boehner wants more debt ceiling chicken I do think that any kind of positive agenda will still have a hard time getting through the obstructionist GOP House-at least we got some let up on the sequester.
So I'm happy to hear the President is not taking this lying down. He does have a pen and a phone and to me the question is not whether he should do this or not but only just what kinds of things can he get done this route. Boehner and company worry that he's forgetting we have a constitution.
"There are several instances that buttress Speaker Boehner's position, including the Supreme Court. He is going to lose on the HHS mandate. He is going to lose on recess appointments. He lost nine to zip in religious liberty case. Greta, he says he has a phone and a pen. I would tell him to be careful using the phone this day and age. You never know who is going to be listening in on the conversation. But he has had a phone and a pen for five years. And we have an anemic economy, a feckless foreign policy, and people are losing hope. So rather than accept responsibility, he wants to blame Congress. That's what he means by this, is I'm going to blame Congress. Their recalcitrant, they won't work with me. He has had half a decade and here we sit."
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/on-the-record/2014/01/25/pres-obamas-i-have-got-pen-and-phone-mantra-translation-im-going-blame-congress
Everybody blames Congress-just see the polls-and rightly so. However, there's nothing unconstitutional about the executive order and there was no GOP worry over this when President W. Bush signed a record number of EOs during his time in office. On the other hand Obama will have to write a lot of EOs in the next few years to have even an average amount.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/01/obama-executive-orders-guns.html
Beyond the EO-and calling colleges and nonprofits as he suggests he will-what we need remains the same. We need to get the GOP out of the House which won't be easy with all the gerrymandered districts. Hopefully these liberal grass root organizations which have shown their power on other issues-like voting rights-will find a way to fight back on gerrymandered districts-otherwise the problem may not be wholly solved until the next Census in 2020.
I'd like to be an optimist that this year will be different but have to admit that I can't see why the GOP will be more reasonable this year. I do see that on some things they'll probably be a little less crazy-I think they may finally see that debt ceiling chicken and govt. shutdown chicken are kamikaze missions-though even on this Boehner's words lately have been somewhat ambiguous.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/22/1271757/--A-Clean-Debt-Ceiling-Raise-Won-t-Pass-in-the-House-Boehner-spokesman
While I don't think Boehner wants more debt ceiling chicken I do think that any kind of positive agenda will still have a hard time getting through the obstructionist GOP House-at least we got some let up on the sequester.
So I'm happy to hear the President is not taking this lying down. He does have a pen and a phone and to me the question is not whether he should do this or not but only just what kinds of things can he get done this route. Boehner and company worry that he's forgetting we have a constitution.
"There are several instances that buttress Speaker Boehner's position, including the Supreme Court. He is going to lose on the HHS mandate. He is going to lose on recess appointments. He lost nine to zip in religious liberty case. Greta, he says he has a phone and a pen. I would tell him to be careful using the phone this day and age. You never know who is going to be listening in on the conversation. But he has had a phone and a pen for five years. And we have an anemic economy, a feckless foreign policy, and people are losing hope. So rather than accept responsibility, he wants to blame Congress. That's what he means by this, is I'm going to blame Congress. Their recalcitrant, they won't work with me. He has had half a decade and here we sit."
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/on-the-record/2014/01/25/pres-obamas-i-have-got-pen-and-phone-mantra-translation-im-going-blame-congress
Everybody blames Congress-just see the polls-and rightly so. However, there's nothing unconstitutional about the executive order and there was no GOP worry over this when President W. Bush signed a record number of EOs during his time in office. On the other hand Obama will have to write a lot of EOs in the next few years to have even an average amount.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/01/obama-executive-orders-guns.html
Beyond the EO-and calling colleges and nonprofits as he suggests he will-what we need remains the same. We need to get the GOP out of the House which won't be easy with all the gerrymandered districts. Hopefully these liberal grass root organizations which have shown their power on other issues-like voting rights-will find a way to fight back on gerrymandered districts-otherwise the problem may not be wholly solved until the next Census in 2020.
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