Posted on 12/23/2014 2:28:03 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
After leading a losing and disastrous gambit that shut down the government over Obamacare last year, Sen. Ted Cruz brushed his critics aside. “I’m not serving in office because I desperately needed 99 new friends.”
Fair enough — no one would confuse him for a Dale Carnegie groupie.
But the fact remains that to be an effective senator, the Texas Republican needs to get other members to work with him. And, at the moment, the collective membership of the world’s greatest deliberative body would rather stick needles in their eyes.
Last week, Cruz brought the 113th session of Congress to a painful close, keeping senators in D.C. for a Saturday session pressing a “constitutional point of order” that attracted just 22 votes and paving the way for Harry Reid to speed consideration on dozens of nominations for President Obama. Cruz ultimately apologized to his fellow Republicans for the schedule “inconvenience,” while Democrats took to Twitter thanking him for making possible the approval of a controversial pick for surgeon general.
The freshman insists Reid would have jammed the nominations through in any event. He’s probably right, but that assertion misses the larger point. In the U.S. Senate, making noise is easy, getting things done is hard. It’s not enough to want to do something or even to say you want to do it. You have to find a way to do it. The vote Cruz demanded was futile and everyone knew it. Yet Cruz still insisted on calling it up at the 11th hour without even giving his own colleagues fair warning.
In interviews, Cruz spoke as if he was forcing a meaningful and decisive vote on the “illegal executive amnesty.” It was neither. Does anyone seriously believe that the 20 Republicans who opposed Cruz’s motion support Obama’s end-run around Congress? Even Pat Toomey, one of the chamber’s strongest conservatives, turned Cruz down, explaining he just couldn’t find anything unconstitutional about the spending bill (spending being a power the Constitution grants explicitly to Congress).
If Cruz’s real goal was to draw attention to himself, mission accomplished. Like Elizabeth Warren, he’s learned quickly that in the Senate there is rarely a downside to being a big, loud “No.” It grabs headlines, panders to a political base, and carries zero political risk. What more could a self-absorbed senator want? To actually accomplish something, perhaps, which neither has yet done in their short congressional careers.
Which brings us to 2015, the opportunity for Republicans, and the challenge for Cruz.
Next year, the Republican-led Congress will pass big pieces of legislation. It will produce a budget and send spending bills to the president. It will act on the Keystone pipeline and other energy concerns and even take up trade and immigration policy. Still, the practical requirements of 218 votes in the House and 60 in the Senate requires that no significant bill can perfectly reflect the view of any one individual.
Like every other member of Congress, Ted Cruz needs to decide if he wants to participate in the process of shaping legislation — which means, on occasion, supporting less than perfect outcomes — or not. Make no mistake, effectiveness is not a matter of making friends, it’s a matter of earning professional respect. And right now, there is little to be found for the junior senator from Texas.
To date, his disdain for working with his colleagues has come through loud and clear. Cruz called the spending bill approved last week “a perfect example of Washington corruption.” Having voted against plenty of spending bills in my time, I’m sure it was filled with billions in unnecessary spending. Calling out a bad bill is one thing, but maligning the motives of everyone who disagrees with you burns the very bridges needed to get anything done in the future.
There’s also nothing new in the idea of being a Senate maverick. John McCain has employed that approach more effectively than anyone. To his credit, however, McCain never loses sight of the most fundamental aspects of crafting legislation: At the end of the day, you need to be able to strike a deal and you need to have someone willing to work with you at the table.
It appears the Texan’s inspiration comes not from McCain but his 2008 running mate. Cruz has become the Sarah Palin of the Senate, going rogue and insisting he’s the only one speaking truth to power. That may work in a governor’s office — or on a talk show — but not on the Senate floor. Then again, it may not matter. President Obama proved you don’t have to be an effective senator to succeed in Washington. He may be Ted’s real role model after all.
Just another liberal trying to discredit and devalue the most feared presidential contender orthe 2016 presidency. I think the liberals are scared to death of Cruz because they fear Obama’s illegal amnestests may turn against them and ore or Cruz. Wouldn’t that be justice?
Just another liberal trying to discredit and devalue the most feared presidential contender of the 2016 presidency. I think the liberals are scared to death of Cruz because they fear Obama’s illegal amnestests may turn against them and vote for Cruz. Wouldn’t that be justice?
What was the favorite saying of the B29 bombers during WW2? “WHEN YOU START GETTING THE HEAVY FLACK, IT’S BECAUSE YOU ARE CLOSER TO THE TARGET”. The only reason these REPUBLICAN “PECKER HEADS” are throwing heavy flack on Ted Cruz, is because Cruz is right above the target. These are the same people that threw all kinds of flack towards Sarah Palin.
We stand with you Ted Cruz
A RINO wants Cruz to reach across the aisle to support Democrats? Really, John? No F’ing way...
Notice how the term “Maverick” is never attached to Cruz.
John McCain s a Maverick because he sides with Democrats. Cruz just sides with the Constitution and the Rule of Law.
Yeah, Sununu’s legacy? David Souter. I’ll take Cruz any day over the New Hampshire RINO.
FUJS!
That may me laugh. So very true. McCain’s rocking chair is calling.
may = made
I have been opposed to Senators being Presidents. That said Cruz/Palin I am all in!
Sununu should go back to New Hampshire where the State Motto is " Live FREE or DIE "
because as the State is becomming increasingly more Demo-Rat,
with Massachusettes escapees who want the programs, but don't want to pay for them,so they move.
Apparently, the State motto is appropriate only for vehicles and history , and not for a political fight for a cause.
Sununu’s only value is as the subject of a “Knock-Knock” joke.
Cruz has gained the respect, loyalty and confidence of all Americans wanting the restoration of our Constitutional Free Republic, and traitor Rino’s like Sununu are deathly afraid of him.
Sununu is the A-hole who convinced Reagan that Souter was a conservative. How did that work out for conservatives?
McLame took the maverick label to advance his Presidential aspirations and ingratiate himself among the Washington press corps. He was a “maverick” because he bucked his party and moved to the left. Cruz bucks his party from the right, and this makes all the difference to the establishment.
This is not the crusty old father. This is his crusty son.
This reads like something from Baghdad Bob.
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