Posts Tagged ‘House Republicans’
October 4th, 2011 by John Feehery
Originally posted on THE HILL – October 3, 2011
It might be too early to start analyzing what went wrong with the Obama administration in its first three years, but I am going to do it anyway.
Here are seven turning points that led to the president’s decline and fall, seven places where Obama or his Democratic allies made critical errors that forever altered the course of his presidency. He hasn’t done everything wrong, but he has made enough mistakes to make his reelection extraordinarily difficult.
1. Failed to veto the initial stimulus package: Imagine for a moment if Obama had vetoed that initial stimulus package. Imagine if he insisted that Democratic leaders take out all the pork and cleanse the bill of unworthy projects. Imagine if he had insisted that congressional Democrats work with Republicans to include their ideas, because we are all in this together. He would have immediately branded himself as a different kind of president, as someone above the fray, as a leader who cares first about the country, not the Democratic Party. And if he had done that, he would have had the Republicans hopelessly divided. Of course, he didn’t take that step, congressional Democrats were able to walk all over him and Republicans stiffened up their resolve and presented a united front against the president and his plans. Read more...
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Bush’s tax cuts, David Plouffe, Democrats, dollar, election, George W Bush, Government, healthcare, House Republicans, Nancy Pelosi, Obama Administration, Obamacare, olympics, Politics, Republicans, spending, White House
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, Government, Politics, Presidential election, election, health care, medicare, national security, spending | 1 Comment »
September 7th, 2011 by John Feehery
Ev and Gerry started the whole response thing.
Everett Dirksen and Gerry Ford, the former Senate Republican leader from Illinois and the former House Minority Leader (and later President) from Michigan used to have a radio show broadcast from the Capitol.
They turned that radio show into a televised rebuttal to President Johnson’s 1966 State of the Union Address.
Dirksen, with his mop of white hair, and Ford, with his bald pate, must have been quite a sight in the years leading up to the Age of Aquarius. Dirksen was the one who famously said, “a billion here, and a billion there, and pretty soon you are talking real money.”
I could understand the frustration of the two Republican (and minority) leaders. Lyndon Johnson wasn’t much to tell the truth, and Republicans at the start of 1966 didn’t have any legislative power. Dirksen, a genius when it came to the political communication innovation, probably dreamed up the idea of a joint response, and a new idea was born: Let’s tell our side of the story. Read more...
Tags: Age of Aquarius, America, Ames Straw poll, assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Bob Livingston, Bob McDonnell, Bob Michel, Bobby Jindal, Congress, Denny Hastert, Dick Armey, Everett Dirksen, Gerry Ford, GOP, Government, House Republicans, Jennifer Dunn, Jim Wright, John Boehner, Lyndon Johnson, Michele Bachmann, Mike Mansfield, Mitch McConnell, Newt Gingrich, NFL, Obama, Paul Ryan, Politics, President Johnson’s 1966 State of the Union Address, President Obama, Presidential election, Republican, Richard Nixon, Robert Byrd, Ronald Reagan, Senate Republican leader from Illinois, spending, Steve Largent, White House
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Politics, Theory, election, speeches | No Comments »
September 1st, 2011 by John Feehery
There is a difference between these two statements.
“I am coming over to your house to watch the football game.” AND
“Hey, can I come over to your house and watch the football game?”
President Obama opted for the first statement when he invited himself over to John Boehner’s house to give a “big speech” on jobs and the economy.”
Usually, a President asks for an invitation from the Speaker before he announces he is giving an address to Congress.
Why is that? Because Congress is co-equal to the executive branch. The President doesn’t run the Congress, although many tend to wish that the Congress would just go away after giving them a blank check.
Mr. Obama and Mr. Boehner eventually agreed to a better date for the President to use the Congress as a prop for another urgent speech meant to jump start his flagging campaign for re-election.
Sadly for NBC, that date coincides with opening night of the national football league, an event that will garner far higher ratings than the Presidential address, should the President choose to compete with Aaron Rodgers. Read more...
Tags: Aaron Rodgers, America, Barack Obama, Democrats, election, GOP, Government, House Republicans, John Boehner, NBC, NFL, Politics, President Obama, Presidential election, Social Security, spending, The American people
Posted in Bad Decisions, GOP, Government, Politics, Theory, election, speeches, sports | No Comments »
August 26th, 2011 by John Feehery
Our family car is a relic. It doesn’t have XM radio. It doesn’t have sync capabilities with the iPhone. It doesn’t have a satellite navigation device. It does have an AM/FM radio and a CD player, but since my wife threw out all of our compact discs, that isn’t much of an option on a long ride.
We drove back from our vacation in Florida, and as you are driving through the Old South, there aren’t many very good radio options on either AM or FM, unless of course, you want to listen to a Baptist preacher telling you how the world is going to Hell in a handbasket, and only your personal contribution to his church can buy your salvation.
With the earthquake and then the hurricane hitting Washington D.C., I could be convinced that the world is going down the tubes, but I probably would never be convinced to give any of my hard-earned money to a Baptist preacher, no matter how convincing he might sound.
Only once did I hear a radio show that didn’t have a religious theme, and it was a North Carolina representative of the NFIB talking about the crushing impact of regulations on small businesses. Read more...
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Commerce Department, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats, earthquake, EPA, House Republicans, hurricane, John Boehner, Justice Department, Obama Administration, OSHA, Politics, small businesses, spending, Tea Party, Washington, White House, XM radio
Posted in Bailouts, Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Laws, Politics, Religion, spending | No Comments »
August 11th, 2011 by John Feehery
So why are so many political reporters traipsing to Iowa this August?
Well, it must be the Ames Straw poll, a tradition like no other.
The Iowa Republican party plays host to this political beauty contest that has little actual bearing on the actual race for the White House.
Since the straw poll was first started in 1979, it has picked exactly one candidate who went on to become President, George W. Bush.
In fact, since 1980, the Iowa caucus system itself has picked exactly one candidate who went on to become President.
If that is the case, then why should we care what Iowans decide at the Ames Straw poll?
Who cares if Michele Bachmann wins? Who cares if Ron Paul comes in second?
Well, to be candid, we shouldn’t care.
Unless, of course, you are Tim Pawlenty. Pawlenty probably needs to do pretty well if we wants to raise enough money to stay in.
But Pawlenty has bigger problems than Ames, Iowa.
Right now, he doesn’t look like he will be able to compete long-term even if he was able to convincingly sweep the straw poll. Read more...
Tags: America, Democrats, Economy, election, George W Bush, GOP, Government, House Republicans, Iowa caucus, Iowa Republican party, Michele Bachmann, Politics, President, Presidential election, Republicans, Ron Paul, The Ames Straw Poll, Tim Pawlenty, Washington, White House
Posted in GOP, Government, History, Media, Politics, Presidential election, Promises, Theory, election | No Comments »
August 3rd, 2011 by John Feehery
The President turns 50 tomorrow, which is a big deal, especially to the President’s fundraisers, who are doing their best to milk it for all it is worth. Apparently, they are throwing a big bash for him in my hometown of Chicago. My invitation must have got caught up in my spam filter.
50 isn’t nearly as old as it used to be (especially if you are 47, like a blogger I know pretty well), and to many old-timers who depend on Social Security and Medicare to survive, 50 is pretty darn young.
I was talking to a neighbor of mine who happens to be a big Democratic activist, and he told me about how panicked his 84-year old mother was over the possibility that she wasn’t going to get her Social Security check.
She comes from a generation where they listen closely to their political leaders, and when the President says that Social Security checks may not be delivered because America can’t pay its debt, that generation takes those threats seriously. Read more...
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats, dollar, Economy, election, GOP, Government, health care, House Republicans, medicare, President Obama, Presidential election, senior citizens, Social Security, Social Security checks, spending, voters, Washington
Posted in Bad Decisions, Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Laws, Liberal Media, Media, Politics, Presidential election, Reviews, Theory, bad news, election, health care, medicare, spending, taxes | No Comments »
July 28th, 2011 by John Feehery
Charlie Stenholm, the former Congressman from Texas
Charlie Stenholm, the former Congressman from Texas, perennially sponsored and pushed for a balanced budget to the Constitution. Charlie was a Democrat, and sponsoring the balanced budget amendment helped him immeasurably in many, many campaigns.
Old Charlie could vote like a Democrat on most things, but sound like a fiscal hawk because he was the sponsor of the Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution.
Congress after Congress, the balanced budget amendment would come up for a vote, and Congress after Congress, the BBA would just barely die in the House. One year, it even passed the House and it almost passed the Senate. Ironically, it was a Republican – Mark Hatfield — who ended up killing it in the Senate when it did pass the House.
House Republicans are now pushing the Senate to take up a balanced budget amendment as part of the Cut, Cap and Balance plan. That all sounds very well and good, and as a good little Republican, I support the concept of the Cut, Cap and Balance plan.
But I have one little nagging concern about the CC and B plan. Read more...
Tags: balanced budget amendment, Bob Casey, Bob Corker, Cap and Balance plan, Charlie Stenholm, Claire McCaskill, Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, Cut, Democrats, Denny Rehberg, dollar, Economy, election, House Republicans, Joe Manchin, Jon Tester, Kirsten Gillibrand, Mark Hatfield, Politics, reform, Republicans, spending, Tea Party, Tom Carper, White House
Posted in Education, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Laws, Media, Politics, Theory, election, spending, taxes | No Comments »
July 27th, 2011 by John Feehery
John Boehner is doing an exceptional job as Speaker under extraordinarily tough times.
When I first started working in Congress, Tom Foley had just taken over from Jim Wright as Speaker of the House. Unlike the dictatorial Wright, Foley ran a decentralized process that gave too much power to Committee barons like Dan Rostenkowski, Jack Brooks and John Dingell.
Foley could never quite get the Chairmen to work together enough to overcome their jurisdictional squabbles, and Democrats faltered under the House Bank scandal, the Post Office debacle and a series of other damaging revelations about a Congress that was out of control.
When Newt Gingrich came to the Speaker’s Office, he leap-frogged over the gentlemanly Bob Michel (my former boss) who unfortunately announced his retirement before he could see the promised land of a Republican majority. Gingrich learned the lessons of the ineffective Foley, centralized power in his chambers, and bull-rushed an ambitious Contract with America legislative agenda. Along the way, Gingrich alienated some of the new Freshmen, his committee Chairmen, and some key members of the leadership, so much so that a few of them launched a failed coup against the embattled Speaker. Read more...
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Bob Michel, Congress, Conservatives, Dan Rostenkowski, Democrats, Denny Hastert, Dick Armey, George Bush, GOP, Government, Grand Bargain, House Republicans, Jack Brooks, Jim Wright, John Boehner, John Dingell, Mark Foley scandal, Nancy Pelosi, Newt Gingrich, President Obama, Republican, Republican Conference, Republicans, Speaker of the House, spending, taxes, Tea Party, the Iraq War, Tom DeLay, Tom Foley, White House
Posted in Bailouts, Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Media, Politics, Promises, Reviews, Scandals, Theory, election, speeches, spending, taxes, war | No Comments »
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 21st, 2011 by John Feehery
Bad reason: Opposing the grand bargain because you think a grand bargain would help President Obama get re-elected.
Good reason: Opposing the grand bargain because you think raising taxes will hurt the economy.
Bad reason: You strongly support a tax increase because you want to stick it to Republicans.
Good reason: You want to get rid of tax breaks and loopholes because you think it will help create jobs and make the economy stronger.
Bad reason: Taking a pledge to not raise taxes because you want to get Grover Norquist off your back.
Good reason: Deciding to take only one pledge – the pledge to defend and protect the Constitution, because you think that a politician who can’t think for himself and use his best judgment shouldn’t be elected in the first place.
Bad reason: You want to cut spending because you want to stick it to poor people who should be working hard just like you do.
Good reason: You want to cut back on spending because you believe that in the long run, if we don’t scale back our government spending, our nation could face financial ruin. Read more...
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Congress, debt limit increase, Democrats, dollar, Economy, election, Government, health care, House Republicans, medicare, President Obama, reform, Republican, spending, taxes
Posted in Bad Decisions, Bailouts, Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Laws, Politics, Presidential election, Theory, bad news, election, health care, spending, taxes | No Comments »
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