Dogman
20th November 2010, 11:44 AM
More than change of party.
By John D. Foster | 2 comments
The votes are in and Republicans are the clear winners in the 2010 national elections. The GOP gained more than 60 seats to win control of the House of Representatives while the Senate remains in Democratic hands despite losing six seats to Republican candidates.
The upshot also is clear. John Boehner of Ohio is the new speaker of the House, a job he may come to rue. As minority leader, his job was to be the public spokesman for the loyal opposition. It’s a job that didn’t interfere with his time on the golf course to deepen his perpetual tan.
Now he has the unenviable task of controlling many new GOP representatives voted into office with tea party credentials. Boehner may not enjoy wrangling a “herd of cats” that isn’t necessarily loyal to the party hierarchy.
The talking heads and pundits who populate the nation’s capitol are having a field day speculating what the election outcome means to the White House. Will President Obama emerge as a chastened leader willing to extend his hand to work with Republicans? That policy didn’t work after his election in 2008 despite spending the first year of his presidency seeking bipartisan cooperation.
Instead, it’s time for Republicans to end their strident partisanship and show leadership skills so often lacking in the current session of Congress. They offered few constructive alternatives to the national health care bill, nor on consumer credit legislation or other major bills to emerge from Congress the past two years.
Instead, the GOP mantra was to work for the president’s failure to achieve big gains in this year’s election and set the stage for the 2012 presidential race. Indeed, the health care law was enacted without a single Republican vote in support of the bill. They won’t have that luxury of sitting on their hands if they want to avoid the appearance of gridlock in Congress.
That may be the goal of some hard-liners who ascribe to Newt Gingrich’s theory of shutting down the federal government. Gingrich, former speaker of the House, lost that battle with President Clinton and wiser heads in the GOP should take that option off the table.
That’s not to say the new Congress taking office in January won’t try to undo national health care. Many congressional candidates gained traction in their races by promising to overturn the law, despite it having considerable public support. A smarter policy is to wait for the courts to act on pending suits challenging the law’s constitutionality.
Ultimately, Republican leaders in the House need to cooperate with Democratic leaders in the Senate to get anything accomplished. If they go overboard on any legislation, they face the president’s veto; if they do nothing they’ll have to answer to voters again in two years.
It’s sobering to remember after the 2008 election, Democrats were flush with power and often displayed their own hubris in Congress. Republicans now elated with the 2010 election results need only to keep that thought in mind.
Our country faces a multitude of problems, from economic recovery and high unemployment to war in Afghanistan. We’ve already spent too much time bickering on politics and not enough time finding solutions. The entire country would benefit from a change in attitudes in Washington to pave the way for peace and prosperity.
— John D. Foster, a Carthage resident and former editor of the Panola Watchman, is a regular contributor to the Saturday Forum.
http://www.news-journal.com/opinion/saturday_forum/article_a4f39685-4b83-54e9-b366-120dd87231cc.html (http://www.news-journal.com/opinion/saturday_forum/article_a4f39685-4b83-54e9-b366-120dd87231cc.html)
By John D. Foster | 2 comments
The votes are in and Republicans are the clear winners in the 2010 national elections. The GOP gained more than 60 seats to win control of the House of Representatives while the Senate remains in Democratic hands despite losing six seats to Republican candidates.
The upshot also is clear. John Boehner of Ohio is the new speaker of the House, a job he may come to rue. As minority leader, his job was to be the public spokesman for the loyal opposition. It’s a job that didn’t interfere with his time on the golf course to deepen his perpetual tan.
Now he has the unenviable task of controlling many new GOP representatives voted into office with tea party credentials. Boehner may not enjoy wrangling a “herd of cats” that isn’t necessarily loyal to the party hierarchy.
The talking heads and pundits who populate the nation’s capitol are having a field day speculating what the election outcome means to the White House. Will President Obama emerge as a chastened leader willing to extend his hand to work with Republicans? That policy didn’t work after his election in 2008 despite spending the first year of his presidency seeking bipartisan cooperation.
Instead, it’s time for Republicans to end their strident partisanship and show leadership skills so often lacking in the current session of Congress. They offered few constructive alternatives to the national health care bill, nor on consumer credit legislation or other major bills to emerge from Congress the past two years.
Instead, the GOP mantra was to work for the president’s failure to achieve big gains in this year’s election and set the stage for the 2012 presidential race. Indeed, the health care law was enacted without a single Republican vote in support of the bill. They won’t have that luxury of sitting on their hands if they want to avoid the appearance of gridlock in Congress.
That may be the goal of some hard-liners who ascribe to Newt Gingrich’s theory of shutting down the federal government. Gingrich, former speaker of the House, lost that battle with President Clinton and wiser heads in the GOP should take that option off the table.
That’s not to say the new Congress taking office in January won’t try to undo national health care. Many congressional candidates gained traction in their races by promising to overturn the law, despite it having considerable public support. A smarter policy is to wait for the courts to act on pending suits challenging the law’s constitutionality.
Ultimately, Republican leaders in the House need to cooperate with Democratic leaders in the Senate to get anything accomplished. If they go overboard on any legislation, they face the president’s veto; if they do nothing they’ll have to answer to voters again in two years.
It’s sobering to remember after the 2008 election, Democrats were flush with power and often displayed their own hubris in Congress. Republicans now elated with the 2010 election results need only to keep that thought in mind.
Our country faces a multitude of problems, from economic recovery and high unemployment to war in Afghanistan. We’ve already spent too much time bickering on politics and not enough time finding solutions. The entire country would benefit from a change in attitudes in Washington to pave the way for peace and prosperity.
— John D. Foster, a Carthage resident and former editor of the Panola Watchman, is a regular contributor to the Saturday Forum.
http://www.news-journal.com/opinion/saturday_forum/article_a4f39685-4b83-54e9-b366-120dd87231cc.html (http://www.news-journal.com/opinion/saturday_forum/article_a4f39685-4b83-54e9-b366-120dd87231cc.html)