Stymied by a GOP House, Obama looks ahead to 2014 to cement his legacy (Be afraid, be very afraid)

President Obama, now facing the consequences of automatic spending cuts and the complications they raise for his broader domestic agenda, is taking the most specific steps of his administration in an attempt to ensure the election of a Democratic-controlled Congress in two years.

“What I can’t do is force Congress to do the right thing,” Obama told reporters at the White House on Friday after a fruitless meeting with Republican leaders to avert the country’s latest fiscal crisis, known as the sequester. “The American people may have the capacity to do that.”

Obama, fresh off his November reelection, began almost at once executing plans to win back the House in 2014, which he and his advisers believe will be crucial to the outcome of his second term and to his legacy as president. He is doing so by trying to articulate for the American electorate his own feelings — an exasperation with an opposition party that blocks even the most politically popular elements of his agenda.

Obama has committed to raising money for fellow Democrats, agreed to help recruit viable candidates, and launched a political nonprofit group dedicated to furthering his agenda and that of his congressional allies. The goal is to flip the Republican-held House back to Democratic control, allowing Obama to push forward with a progressive agenda on gun control, immigration, climate change and the economy during his final two years in office, according to congressional Democrats, strategists and others familiar with Obama’s thinking.

“The president understands that to get anything done, he needs a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives,” said Rep. Steve Israel (N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “To have a legacy in 2016, he will need a House majority in 2014, and that work has to start now.”

It would really help to see where your perspective is coming from.

Help who? Aren't you a birther I've argued with before? I'm really not terribly interested in proving anything to you, but since I'm bored at the office for the moment I will reply.

Posters operating under a false flag always have a tough time with this question.

Oh good grief you sound utterly ridiculous. Anyone running some secret operation would probably be smart enough to cut and paste the appropriate responses from somewhere else.

It's actually a tough question because there are no "3" favorites (per your previous question). When you try to put elected officials in order you find that some are ideologically strong conservatives but have little charisma, others are very effective politicians but are less grounded in conservative thought, etc, etc. You can't just go down the ACU list and pick from the "voted 100% conservative" column. Being influential, actually moving conservative legislation, the ability to persuade people, etc, are all things that have weight and can make an "80% conservative" often times more valuable than a "100 conservative".

Who do I find myself cheering for among all Republicans elected officials (not confined to congress) lately? A few of my gut favorites right at the moment are as follows:

Scott Walker for going big and persevering. Walker kept that calm, happy warrior demeanor on at all times which I think made it possible to significantly reduce the power of public unions in his state. That was a big change in Wisconsin, and I'm not sure someone who comes off as firebrand could have pulled it off. I doubted he could survive this, thought maybe he wasn't fighting back hard enough - but Walker proved to have the right formula to get things done.

Ted Cruz for being the most exciting conservative on our side right now. His willingness to offend the "sensibilities" of the old guard make him pretty much the most fun politician to watch right now. Deep red states are the places to hit grand slams and nominate true movement conservatives - the kind of dream conservatives that may struggle to win in more politically divided states.

Marco Rubio for being a well spoken, charismatic Hispanic that is mostly conservative and likely to be a strong presidential candidate. At some point we will absolutely need to cut into the Hispanic demographic, and politicians like him will, hopefully, help with that.

Congress Pete King of NY. Yeah, he's not particularly conservative on a lot of the issues (like most recently on the Sandy pork), but he is one of those guys who is really great sometimes - especially on terrorism issues. He is well spoken enough to really gut the Obama administration when they get caught catering to Islamic wacko's.

Governor Bobby Jindal for focusing, fighting and passing education reform. Vouchers and breaking the state education monopolies is a big issue for me and, I think, key to beginning to break the lefts culture dominance.

I'll add a non politician - Andrew Breitbart for recognizing that we won't win the political war until we start winning back the culture. He correctly saw that the left had virtually entirely taken over the education, media and entertainment establishments. If that remains the score we are unlikely to become the dominant force we need to be in order to roll back the massive social welfare state we are saddled with.

The list is just too long, and it isn't going to prove anything to you anyway. Wanna know what I think, just read my posts. I have a 10 year track record.

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