Free Republic

From the Washington Examiner President Obama did something extraordinary, perhaps unprecedented, in his post-election news conference Wednesday: He claimed a mandate on behalf of voters who didn't vote. "To everyone who voted, I want you to know that I hear you," the president said. "To the two-thirds of voters who chose not to participate in the process yesterday, I hear you, too."...Obama's message to Republicans was unmistakable: My mandate is bigger than your mandate.... LOL. Liberalism is the ideology of anti-intellectual children, the examples of this are too numerous to count, but Obama has the brightest (or more accurately,...

President Obama opened a White House meeting with congressional leaders by calling for an end Washington’s gridlock, arguing that was the message behind Tuesday’s Democratic drubbing. Speaking from the White House dining room, where he was flanked by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on one side and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on the other, Obama said the midterm result demonstrated that voters were “frustrated by the gridlock in Washington.” “They’d like to see more cooperation,” the president said. “And I think all of us have the responsibility, me in particular, to try to make that happen. And so, this...

Some observations on the election: (1) This was a wave, folks. It will be a benchmark for judging waves, for either party, for years. (2) In seriously contested races, Republican candidates were generally younger, more vigorous, more sunny and optimistic than Democrats. The contrast was sharpest in Colorado and Iowa, which voted twice for President Obama. Cory Gardner and Joni Ernst seemed to be looking forward to the future. Their opponents grimly championed the stale causes of feminists and trial lawyers of the past. Democrats see themselves as the party of the future. But their policies are antique. The federal...

President Barack Obama came out swinging on Wednesday just 14 hours after a Republican wave swept over the U.S. Congress in an election that largely repudiated his policies. 'Congress will pass some bills I cannot sign,' he said, threatening to dust off a veto pen that he has used only twice in nearly six years. And he hinted at executive orders that will enrage conservatives. 'I'm pretty sure I'll take some actions that some in Congress will not like,' he said. 'That's natural. That's how Democracy works.' Much of reporters' tussling with the president focused on executive orders related to...

House Speaker John Boehner and incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, outlining their legislative vision for the last two years of Barack Obama’s presidency, are vowing to try to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The Republican House speaker from Ohio and incoming Senate majority leader from Kentucky noted that a commitment to creating jobs “means renewing our commitment to repeal Obamacare, which is hurting the job market along with Americans’ health care.” The ACA remains a politically divisive issue, and further attempts at repeal would surely be met with significant Democratic opposition and a White House veto.

Senator McConnell holds presser in Louisville

President Barack Obama said Wednesday he would work with Congress on new war powers to fight Islamic State militants and expressed cautious optimism about whether the international face-off over Iran's nuclear program will be resolved — two issues that could prove harder for the White House to maneuver with Republicans in charge on Capitol Hill. Obama spoke at a news conference the day after his party was thrashed by Republicans in midterm elections, leaving the GOP soon to be in charge of both the House and the Senate. When he approved U.S. airstrikes in late September against extremists who have...