Posts Tagged ‘boehner’
July 26th, 2011 by John Feehery
President Obama has not been shy lately in trying to use the power of the bully pulpit to get his way on Capitol Hill.
It is not clear that his bully pulpit approach is working.
I listened to the President’s address last night on the radio (yes, I went old school), and predictably, I found his comments to be unconvincing. He talked about his balanced approach (which, to be clear, is different than a balanced budget; which is a pipe dream in his vision of the future), he blamed Republicans for being stubborn, he talked about raising taxes on the wealthy (which nobody in Congress includes in their plan), and then he used the same rhetoric he has used time and again.
I doubt the speech worked well for the President. He has been pounding on these message points for weeks, and if anything, his poll numbers have grown worse. Both Gallup and Rasmussen have found that the President has hit historically high disapproval ratings. Read more...
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Bill Daley, boehner, bully pulpit, Cantor, Capitol Hill, Congress, Congressional Republicans, Conservatives, Economy, gallup, GOP, Government, health care, House Republicans, McConnell, medicare, Obama, Politics, President Obama, raising taxes on the wealthy, Rasmussen, reform, Republicans, Senate Majority Leader, Social Security, spending, Tax cuts, taxes, Tea Party, Washington, White House
Posted in Bad Decisions, Bailouts, Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Laws, Liberal Media, Media, Politics, Promises, Reviews, Theory, bad news, election, health care, medicare, speeches, spending, taxes | No Comments »
July 6th, 2011 by John Feehery
Nonsense. The President’s position on taxes is complete and total nonsense.
He has made a big deal out of taxing corporate jets. I remember when Bill Clinton made a big deal out of taxing yachts in the mid-nineties. He called it a luxury tax. Result? The normal schmucks who manufactured yachts found themselves out of work.
What does Barack Obama have against corporate jet manufacturing workers?
Probably nothing, but his uncareful rhetorical and his silly policy positions, if implemented, will cost some their jobs.
This whole debate about taxes is unbelievably cynical. If the Democrats truly believed that taxes should be increased, they would have done it seven months ago, when they had control over the entire legislative process.
They extended the Bush tax cuts for two more years because they were afraid that raising taxes would stunt economic growth. Has the economy all of sudden improved dramatically in the last six months? No, of course not.
What has changed is that Republicans are now in charge of the House.
And what Mr. Obama and his allies want to do is try to smash the Republicans politically against their base. They are using the crisis of the debt ceiling to achieve that political goal. Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, boehner, Bush tax cuts, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats, Economy, Government, health care, House Republicans, John Boehner, McConnell, President Obama, reform, Republicans, spending, tax reform, tax welfare, taxes
Posted in Bad Decisions, Economy, Financial Crisis, Government, History, Politics, Promises, spending, taxes | No Comments »
January 21st, 2009 by John Feehery
Positive Signs from the House GOP
It is a long way until the next election. President Obama has just ended his first full day in the White House. All the talk show chatter has centered on how Hollywood invaded the District to celebrate the anointed one. All the serious press is focused on the decline and fall of the world financial sector. Nobody is really paying too much attention to the machinations of House Republicans.
But things are starting to look bit brighter for the lower chamber’s minority party. I know that is counter-intuitive, but I am started to see signs of revival from them.
With the departure of the President Bush, Congressional Republicans now have the opportunity to draw bright lines of distinction between them and the Majority Party. They no longer have to govern, but that doesn’t give them a license to be irresponsible. The American people don’t want blind partisanship. They want solutions.
And the House GOP is offering positive solutions, not just missiles aimed at the new President. Under John Boehner’s direction, the new Whip, Eric Cantor (who would have been a good Vice Presidential candidate), led a listening session with top economists that explored the best options to grow the economy. Read more...
Tags: boehner, Cantor, House GOP, McCarthy, Obama, Paul Ryan
Posted in Theory | No Comments »
June 19th, 2008 by John Feehery
It isn’t an easy thing to cut a deal when you are the House Minority leader.
The temptation is to oppose everything, because, well, you are in the minority, and it is the majority’s job to get things done.
That certainly was the position taken by Nancy Pelosi when she was minority leader. I can’t think of one thing she worked on with the Republican Majority. She wouldn’t even sign on to amicus briefs on issues of institutional concern, because she was a partisan first, and an institutionalist second.
A perfect example of her partisanship came with the prescription drug legislation that gave seniors access to life saving drugs through Medicare for the first time in history. She pulled out all the stops to kill that legislation, and then threatened to repeal it when it became law.
John Boehner has been a different kind of Minority Leader; partially because of his temperament and partially because of the situation he is in with the Bush White House. But that doesn’t make his job any easier. And cutting deals on any issue is fraught with peril. It requires real leadership. Read more...
Tags: boehner, Congress, supplemental, war
Posted in Government, Media, Politics, Theory | No Comments »
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