What would happen if Obama lost his fight for gun control?

The Washington Examiner ^ | 3 April, 2013 | Brian Hughes

[marktwain]

White House officials are now openly conceding that President Obama's gun control package could die on Capitol Hill, a development analysts said would cast a pall over the president's second-term agenda and weaken his leverage with Republicans.

The president's trek to Denver on Wednesday was his latest attempt to regain momentum on the issue of gun violence, on which Obama has so far failed to close a deal despite a substantial investment of political capital.

"There doesn't have to be a conflict between protecting our citizens and protecting our Second Amendment rights," Obama said, surrounded by law enforcement officers in the Colorado capital.

But an overwhelming number of Republicans and a handful of red-state Democrats aren't buying that message.

Unlike immigration, which the White House views as a political winner even if the GOP kills reforms, new gun restrictions don't enjoy the same level of support along party lines. Obama can't merely bank on painting Republicans as obstructionists for political gain, analysts said.

"I don't think Republicans would lose the House [in 2014] simply because they blocked the president's gun initiatives," said Nathan Gonzales, deputy editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report.

And from a policy perspective, this may represent Obama's last, best shot to achieve the types of firearms laws long rebuffed by the powerful gun lobby in Washington.

"It has to be done this calendar year -- and that's being generous," Gonzales added.

[MasterGunner01]

Obama would be so inconsolable — if he fails on UN and domestic gun grabs — that he defects to Kenya [or Nicaragua or Venezuela or Cuba or Zimbabwe or South Africa].

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

weaken his leverage with Republicans.

Any republican that allows this retard leverage deserves his fate.