Posted on 11/05/2014 4:31:54 AM PST by nathanbedford
The Republicans will enjoy firm control of both houses of Congress. Both parties will now begin the campaign for 2016. How they govern will depend on how they intend to campaign.
The dilemma for the Democrats is more stark than the dilemma for the Republicans. The Democrats must recognize that Obama is a potentially alien force within their ranks governing against their individual and party fortunes as Democrats. The question for Democrats, especially Senate Democrats, is whether they will stand with Obama if he chooses to continue to govern against the will of the American people even as Republicans send up bill after bill requiring Democrat legislators to either support or reject Obama's veto. Assuming that Obama will continue to oppose energy legislation including the pipeline, that he will veto popular modifications of Obamacare, that he will veto controls on spending, that he will decline to enforce legislation on immigration, elected Democrats will find themselves increasingly at odds with the American people if they sustain Obama. It will be productive to examine a roster of Senate Democrats up for reelection in 2016 and begin to aggressively campaign in their states to separate them from Obama.
The dilemma for Republicans is to thread the needle on immigration, Obamacare, and spending so that they retain support of The Tea Party and Rino wings of the party. One can expect the Republican establishment in the House and Senate under Boehner and McConnell to begin by picking low hanging fruit to send to the White House. An obvious example is legislation for the Keystone pipeline. But the real dilemma for Republicans will emerge as they address immigration and Obamacare. The choice of the establishment is to decide on immigration whether to appease fatcat donors on K St., Wall Street, and to appease (if possible) La Raza or whether to side with the majority of Americans in the middle-class, who want the border policed. If the establishment tries to appeal to both camps or to appease potential Hispanic voters, it runs the risk of losing both sides as the Democrats continue to align themselves with the fat cats and play the Hispanic race card. If the Republicans side with the people, they risk shortfall in funding in 2016 and the usual media slanders of racism. They might also lose enough of the Hispanic vote to tip the 2016 election to the Democrats. If they side with the fat cats, they risk a schism in the party, massive defections by Tea Party Republicans and a rupture of the base. Hence, it is critical that the Republican establishment threads the needle or comes down on the right side. Smart money will bet on the Republicans pretending to real immigration reform while selling out.
Expect equal quotients of cynicism from the establishment Republicans concerning spending and Obamacare. The Republican establishment has already back peddled on spending, announcing they would send up an omnibus spending bill. To be charitable they have been mealy mouth about repealing Obamacare. The passage of an omnibus spending bill means that the Republican Congress has abandoned its power of the purse as the only practical and effective means of defending the country against Obama's imperial tyranny. Not surprisingly, Republicans have announced that they will not impeach Obama so they have essentially unilaterally disarmed. Expect them to cynically engage in symbolic acts respecting both spending and Obamacare calculated to appease the base while borrowing to pay the fiddler to keep the music playing. At any rate, it is clear that the establishment of the Republican Party presently controlling both houses is not on fire to repeal Obamacare and will only make gestures in that direction.
Perhaps the most interesting player in this drama will be Barack Obama who must decide how he will exit the stage. I began by asserting that the Democrats must recognize that Obama is an "alien force" whose allegiance is not to the Democrat party which he opportunistically regards as a vehicle to exploit, but to the Communist Party. After six years, when even before his first inauguration we on Free Republic identified Obama as a communist, I believe those of us who got it right are entitled today to state the obvious: Obama does not carry allegiance to the Democrat party but to his ideology and he will sacrifice the Democrat party and Democrats in general to further his one world, utopian, Saul Alinsky community organizer ideology. Obama succeeded in ignoring the results of the 2010 election and pivoting to the right and was rewarded for his obdurancy by reelection in 2012. Nathan Bedford's first Maxim of American politics: All politics in America is not local but ultimately racial and that implies that Obama sees the world through the prism of race and will exploit the race card to mitigate the damage his socialist ideology will cause his own legacy and his putative party. He will do this because 2012 told him that race demagoguery succeeds.
So Obama will govern with minimal regard for 2016 if it comes at the expense of his personal ideology. Clever Republicans will find ways to expose what Obama will do and force Democrats to risk severe party discipline or defeat. Watch Hillary, if she can pivot the Democrat party creating a new axis away from Obama and unto herself even before she is nominated it is possible that Democrats can desert Obama with impunity. It is typical of the Clintons to attempt to triangulate and Obama might just offer her an open field.
We conservatives must as always choose between our principles or enabling Democrats to commit their ideology against America. The establishment Republicans will try to move as far left as Obama gives them space while pretending otherwise. If we do not adhere to the establishment's charade we risk losing the general election in 2016 and if we meekly submit we risk the same result as a Democrat victory but at a slower pace. The best solution for conservatives in this scenario is to find a charismatic leader who will espouse one or two universally popular conservative positions which changes the game. My suggestion, save the Republic before it is too late.
Republicans will most likely put up either Bush or Romney and will undo the midterms. The only way out of that is for Cruz to be the ONLY conservative in the 2016 primaries. If that happens and if Cruz can adopt something like Reagan’s confident air of optimism then the record amounts of money that will be raised by the Republican Party and the Democrat Party to defeat him in the primaries will be for nought.
The RINOs say the same thing.
The Republicans had to hang on through this election. Now, let the Benghazi Committee start turning over the stones.
Senate hearings could be redundant and dissipate the public’s interest in Benghazi at this time. The focus needs to be on how the Democrat Obama Administration behaved in Libya.
Nope. But Benghazi is the critical point with the Democrats.
They can explain away Fasy And Furious.....”We’re afraid of guns!”
They can explain away the VA problems......”We’re incompetent!”
They can explain away the IRS issue......”It’s just politics!”
They can’t explain away Benghazi. Benghazi can rip the camouflage off the Democrat leaders and show them for the greedy, heartless rats that they are.
Why did Hillary and Obama commit US Taxpayer provided equipment, personnel, funds and facilities to overthrow the government of Libya? I thought they hated imperialism? Yet, they overthrow a foreign government?
I’m not going to cite a specific RINO point, but an acceptance that someone doesn’t have to agree 100% with me on something for me to consider voting for him/her.
For example, I’m not a big fan of gay marriage but if a candidate were to agree with me on what I consider important (e.g. lower taxes, preserving gun rights, no amnesty for illegals) but isn’t completely against gay marriage, that particular stand wouldn’t be a deal breaker for me.
BTW, the RINOs need to move toward the Tea Party side too. It works both ways.
What is that 'thing' they say?
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