Posted on 11/11/2006 4:08:13 AM PST by MadIvan
On the morning after the mid-term elections, a humbled President George W Bush called it "a thumping".
But yesterday he described the disastrous result for the Republicans, when Congress turned from Republican red to Democrat blue, as a "great opportunity".
His aides were briefing that he now had the chance to build a domestic policy legacy and use his final two years in the White House to prove that politicians could get things done in Washington.
After a White House coffee meeting yesterday, Mr Bush chuckled as Senator Dick Durbin, part of the new Democratic leadership in the Senate, joked: "I do want to say thanks personally to the president and vice-president for their conciliatory gesture by wearing blue ties today.
"From our side, we think that is a symbolic indication."
Conservative Republicans and wary Democrats fear that Mr Bush might indeed try to steal the Democrats' clothes. "They talked about issues that people care about, and they won," he told the senators.
As a lame-duck president after years of poor relations with Democrats who were bitter about being frozen out of the decision-making process, turning opportunity into legislative reality will be one of the biggest challenges of Mr Bush's political career.
The message from the voters was that they rejected one-party rule in Washington and wanted to see whether divided government could lead to the kind of results Mr Bush was unable to achieve when Republicans were the kings of Capitol Hill.
Having been swept into power on the backs of their condemnation of a "do-nothing Congress", there will be pressure on Democrats to demonstrate that they can do business with Mr Bush. The president will want to leave office with achievements under his belt and use his power of veto sparingly.
"The Democrats should adopt a good government strategy rather than a take-no-prisoners strategy," said Senator Birch Bayh, a Democrat who served in the Senate for 18 years.
He believed that Republicans in Congress would adopt a new approach. "They've gotten the signal that people didn't like what was going on, that the well was poisoned. They're not going to be bomb throwers."
In 1996, President Bill Clinton and a Republican-controlled Senate and House of Representatives introduced a welfare reform Bill that became a landmark piece of social legislation. Both parties claimed credit for it. Republican presidents have also signed legislation sent to them by Democratic houses of Congress.
To the dismay of conservative Republicans, Mr Bush has already indicated that he agrees with the Democratic proposal to raise the minimum wage. But the centrepiece of his last 24 months in office could be a comprehensive overhaul of America's immigration laws.
His desire for tough border security measures combined with opportunities for many of America's 12 million illegal immigrants to become citizens is shared by more Democrats than Republicans on Capitol Hill.
Gardner Peckham, a senior aide to Newt Gingrich, speaker of the House after the Republican takeover of Capitol Hill in 1994, said: "Democrats will have to be very careful not to appear like they're looking backwards and wanting retribution.
"They won't want to look like they're the source of the problem. But they're not going to want the president to look good on any of these issues. The prize is the White House in 2008. Control of Congress is great, but without the White House you can't control the agenda."
Immigration, he suggested, would be "an interesting test" of whether genuine cooperation was possible.
Keep your comments on the board here for all to see. No more Freepmail.
"Keep your comments on the board here for all to see. No more Freepmail."
Fine.
LOL, good idea but do not hold your breath, looks like Bush is switching parties. I am not at all surprised as I've known all along Bush was not really conservative on anything other then family values.
He has also supported fellow republicans in their relection campaigns and many times defended the President even though politically they may not always agree.
He was also one of the most vocal Republicans when Kerry made that so called poor joke against the troops.
I'm having serious DSL problems here and need to sign off for now.
McCain is a lot of things, but he is not a liberal. Currently, he's on the wrong side of immigration and he was dreadfully wrong on his interpretation of the Geneva Convention.
John fell victim to media attnetion after the Keating Five and he has played to them more than he has kept true to his constituents. He relishes the maverick talk --- he sees himself as a statesman --- sort of like Bob Dole before him.
Enough of that. He won't be our nominee, but it is best that he lose primaries fair and square without mud slinging, because his political hero is Teddy "Moose Party" Roosevelt, and an Independent run by John for POTUS will most assuredly throw the election to the democrat.
"He was also one of the most vocal Republicans when Kerry made that so called poor joke against the troops."
Good for him. Your point? Does that make the laws he has passed or wants passed better? The question that should be asked of a legislature is what is his legislative goal, not how loyal he otherwise is to his fellow Republicans when it serves his purposes.
When it doesn't serve his purposes, McCain will and has gone after them. Remember McCain's Terrorist Bill of Rights?
It'll have to be a man or woman without a long paper trail. I can already hear the howls here.
Hurry back.
More conservative than Reagan on tax cuts.
More conservative than Reagan on judiciary appointments.
Completely supportive of the military, as was Reagan.
Far more conservative than Reagan on 'family values'.....including the right of the unborn to live.
Even more conservative than Reagan on securing our borders.
But don't let those pesky old facts get in the way of your endless, nauseating Bush bashing, jpsb.
BUMP! You are correct. Anyone who doesn't come through for individual posters 100% of the time, is a RINO.
I have news for the stay at home GOP voters. They are the RINOs. The base voted. ohioWfan, I and others who voted are the base.
But President Bush's goal is clear. To keep judges from legislating from the bench, and to have judges who honor the laws and the Constitution.
Thanks to the ubercons, it's going to be a heck of a lot harder now, but I believe he can do it.
As far as I'm concerned, the judiciary is the most important conservative thing he can do domestically. He's two thirds of the way there in transforming the SC. We just have to pray him through the last third.
He sees himself as a statesman and FWIW, a lot of people see him that way too, which is why he leads in MSM polls!
He's not a liberal, but keep telling yourself that if it makes you fell better. You will have lots of company here on FR where McCain is hated, but that doesn;t change the fact that he is NOT a liberal.
Your comment about Rudy tell me all I need to know about you. Thanks.
You-hoo.
Please try to post factually.
Democrat turn out --- 31+ million
GOP turn out --- 25+ million.
Don't try to lay blame on Indepenedents.
Pouting purists stayed home and I can hardly wait to hear them howl about SCOTUS.
"He's not a liberal, but keep telling yourself that if it makes you fell better."
I'm hardly alone in thinking that of McCain.
"Your comment about Rudy tell me all I need to know about you. Thanks. "
Rudy is a northeast liberal. That ought to be obvious from his positions on so many things.
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