Posts Tagged ‘Congress’
September 7th, 2010 by John Feehery
When Mayor Daley announced that he was resigning, it made Washington liberals very happy. It should have also put a smile on Republican Presidential candidates too.
Let me explain.
For most of his career, Daley has been a pretty effective mayor for the city of Big Shoulders. He was able to pick up the pieces after the Harold Washington debacle and move the city past the racial political war that typified Washington’s epic battles against the City Counsel.
For a decade or so, he made Chicago work again. He made peace with the business community, he worked hard on beautifying the city, and found ways to reach out to every different neighborhood in a way that brought the city together. He transformed his father’s political machine, making it more acceptable for the modern era.
But Daley was dogged by federal corruption investigations that ultimately took out many of his closest allies. He refused to back the police force when cops were charged with police brutality and racism (even when the cops were black). That led to the shooting gallery that is currently Chicago.
He pushed liberal (and ineffective) causes like gun control, making a name for himself, but taking away freedom from citizens who wanted to protect themselves from the bad guys. Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, Chicago, Congress, DC mayor, election, mayor, Presidential election, White House
Posted in Government, Politics, Theory, election | No Comments »
September 7th, 2010 by John Feehery
“April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.” – T.S. Eliot–The Wasteland
Had T.S. Elliot just witnessed the August endured by the Obama Administration, he might have changed his opinion of the cruelest month. Because, politically, for Democrats, this August has been nothing, but a wasteland.
From the moment Michelle Obama set foot in Spain, to the moment her husband decided to wade into the New York City mosque mess, it has been nothing, but bad news for Congressional Democrats.
As the President’s popularity ratings have sunk, so have the fortunes of his close allies in Capitol Hill. According to Gallup, Republicans now enjoy the biggest advantage to the following question in the history of the poll: “Will you vote for the Republican candidate or the Democratic candidate this coming November?”
And in race after race, the polling is not getting any better for the Democrats. It was widely reported that Democratic operatives have already thrown in the towel on the House, and are now turning their attention to saving the Senate majority, a concern that was deemed unthinkable only four months ago. Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats, Economy, election, George W Bush, Government, health care, Iraq, McCain, November elections, Presidential election, Republicans, White House
Posted in Economy, Government, Politics, Theory, election, health care, war | No Comments »
August 20th, 2010 by John Feehery
The vacation is a relatively modern invention.
Most historians will say it was invented in the early 19th century, when wealthy people “vacated” their homes and schools and went elsewhere, most likely to escape whatever hot weather they were dealing with.
The mountains and the beach back then were the best ways to beat the heat, especially if you lived in the Washington area. That still seems to be the case.
Middle class vacations are made possible by the modern industrial age. You can take a break if you don’t have to worry about subsistence living. You can also take a break if you can afford to take a break and not go bankrupt.
If you are a farmer or small shop owner, living on tight margins, it is hard to take any kind of break, especially back in the 19th century. Back then, only the wealthiest land owners and industrialists could afford to take a break, because only they could afford to leave the hard work to somebody else.
If you were poor, you weren’t going to take many vacations. Read more...
Tags: Congress, Vacation
Posted in Fun, Theory | No Comments »
August 16th, 2010 by John Feehery
Former President George W. Bush signing a tax cut law.
So, George Bush has been out of office for close to two years and Barack Obama has been President for close to two year. So, why are Republicans getting sucked into a debate about the Bush tax cuts? The debate should be on the Obama tax increases, not the Bush tax cuts.
Sure, it was Bush who signed tax legislation a decade ago that is set to expire at the end of the year. But Bush is no longer President. Obama is the President, and he is the one who seems more than willing to allow tax increases to spring immediately into place.
Republicans need to center this discussion on the broader tax debate. And here is the debate. Do you think the tax code should be recreated to allow for more long-term job creation, greater productivity, greater economic growth and improved American competitiveness or do you think the tax code should remain status quo, with tax cuts only going up on rich people? Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, Congress, Democrats, George W Bush, Republicans, Tax cuts, taxes
Posted in taxes | No Comments »
August 13th, 2010 by John Feehery
Dan Rostenkowski, former Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee
This has been a bad year for old school politicians.
This week, in particular, has been devastating for those of us who have great affection for the political professionals of the past.
Ted Stevens died in a plane crash and a day later, Dan Rostenkowski, the former Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, died of natural causes.
Stevens and Rostenkowski were mirror images of one another. Both were gruff, both were powerful, both were effective advocates for their constituents, and both counted close friends on either side of the political chasm.
And, of course, both ran afoul of a changing ethics landscape.
Stevens and Rostenkowski are only the latest of the old guard to die this year. Robert Byrd, Jack Murtha, and Ted Kennedy, all legendary figures of the Congress also passed on to their greater reward.
These old school politicians not only represented a different era in the Congress. They represented a different era of the country. Read more...
Tags: Congress, Dan Rostenkowski, Jack Murtha, Robert Byrd, Ted Kennedy, Ted Stevens
Posted in Government, Politics, Theory | No Comments »
August 5th, 2010 by John Feehery
Tags: Barack Obama, business, Congress, Debt, Democrats, Republicans, socialist, spending
Posted in Government, Politics, Theory | No Comments »
August 3rd, 2010 by John Feehery
President Obama loves to mock Congressional Republicans as the gang that drove the economy into the ditch. Congressional Republicans love to attack President Obama as the guy who is seeking to make America a “socialist” country.
Many wonder how these two sides would work together should Republicans regain power in Congress this November. Will it be partisan warfare 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Will such a result lead to Washington D.C. style gridlock, where neither side can move an inch in either direction? Will the Republicans be able to return to Bush-economics, as the President hints? Will they be able to repeal the President’s health care bill as they promise on the campaign trail?
In fact, it is my theory, that President Obama and Congressional Republicans could have a productive, if unlikely, partnership that could move the country forward on several different fronts in the next Congress.
Here are the five issues that I think could be fertile ground for compromise next year should the Republicans retake the Congress: Read more...
Tags: bar, Barack Obama, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats, GOP, Government, Politics, Republicans
Posted in Politics | No Comments »
July 29th, 2010 by John Feehery
In 2001, right after President Bush took office, his people pushed hard for Speaker Hastert to pass through a huge tax cut. The economy was slowing down as the tech bubble burst, and the Bush team wanted a big enough tax cut to jump start economic growth.
Hastert was entering his third year as Speaker, and he had been through several different tax fights with Mr. Bush’s predecessor, Bill Clinton.
What Hastert learned in his fights with Clinton is that it is far better to talk about the actual policy than it is to talk about big numbers. In other words, it was better to talk about getting rid of the marriage penalty, getting rid of the death tax, lowering the cost of investment, giving families with kids help with a child tax credit, and branding business tax cuts as ways to create jobs.
The new Bush Administration wanted to push through a big tax cut early, but Hastert insisted that the House methodically communicate as it legislated by breaking up the big tax cut into its smaller parts. And on each one of its parts, a substantial number of Democrats joined with Republicans to enact the Bush tax cut agenda, not because they wanted to, but because they had to. Read more...
Tags: Bill Clinton, Congress, Democrats, Dennis Hastert, George H.W. Bush, Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter
Posted in Politics, spending, taxes | No Comments »
July 22nd, 2010 by John Feehery
Glenn Beck is not necessarily my cup of tea.
But you have to give the guy credit. His show is pretty entertaining.
And apparently it is watched with great interest at the White House.
Earlier this year, I went home to Chicago for my brother’s 40th birthday (yes, he is my younger brother and yes, it was a surprise), and all anybody could talk about was Glenn Beck.
And they were all positive comments. Do you watch Glenn Beck? Do you like Glenn Beck? Did you hear what Glenn Beck said about this or that?
It was fascinating. My family is not exactly a bunch of right-wingers. They are mostly centrists who have grown tired of Barack Obama’s false promises. They are concerned about the future of the country, about the debt, about the lack of jobs.
They watch Glenn Beck because they find his show entertaining and informative.
They aren’t the only ones. I remember I spoke once to a fly-in for a member of Congress, and I said something less than positive about Mr. Beck, and I had to defend myself from a verbal attack from the Congressman’s mother, who is a rabid follower of him. Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, Congress, Glenn Beck, NAACP, racism, Shirley Sherrod
Posted in Politics | 3 Comments »
June 22nd, 2010 by John Feehery
The President’s top budget guy announced today that he’s leaving.
That should come as no surprise. After all, Congressional Democrats announced that they weren’t going to do a budget this year anyway.
Who needs a budget?
Our country is doing fine financially.
Sure, we’ve got historically high debt to deal with. Sure, we have tax policy that is about to get a lot more interesting at the end of the year, when a bunch of tax provisions expire. Sure, we have Social Security starting to go broke quicker than anybody anticipated. Sure, we have a huge problem with chronic unemployment in the private sector and bursting employment in the public sector. Sure, almost every state seems like it is ready to go belly-up financially.
Sure, we have all of those problems, problems that are all budget-related. But that doesn’t mean we should do a budget.
We don’t need no stinking budget.
Budgets require tough choices. Budgets require (at least notionally) that the numbers all add up. Budgets require leadership.
We aren’t going to get much leadership from the guys running the country these days. Read more...
Tags: American, Budget, Congress, Democrats, Peter Orszag, Republicans, Unemployment
Posted in Bad Decisions, Economy, Financial Crisis, Government, Politics | 2 Comments »
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