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Obama Must Fish or Cut Bait in GOP Congress
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
January 13, 2015 All Rights Reserved.
Meeting at the White House to mend fences after the
Nov. 4, 2015 shellacking in the Midterm elections, 53-year-old President Barack
Obama has little choice but to work with a House and Senate majority. Threatening vetoes guarantees that
he leaves a lasting legacy of gridlock and failure before fading into the sunset
Jan. 20, 2017. Now that Republicans
control the Congress, Obama must pick his battles wisely, preserving what’s left
of his personal agenda. If he wants
to save Obamacare, Barack needs to compromise on otherwise objectionable
GOP-backed legislation.
Congressional Republicans don’t want Obama ruling by executive fiat, like he did
with immigration reform, using executive powers to stop deportations. Finding common ground during the
next two years will make or break his presidency, viewed today as one of the
weakest legislative agendas in U.S. history.
When Barack came to office Jan. 20, 2009, he promised a post-partisan
presidency, finding common ground for the good of the people. Before his left hand came off the
bible, Brack has signed on to Democrats Holy Grail of national health care
legislation. Letting House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) advance
that agenda, Obama allowed entrenched elements in the Democratic Party to wreck
in presidency. Obama showed no
regard for Senate Republicans, railroading the Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act Dec. 24, 2009. Obama
started out on exactly the wrong foot, imposing Democrats’ agenda on
Congressional Republicans. Whatever
one thinks of Congressional Republicans, they would have been far more amenable
had things been different. Now
Obama has some fateful choices to find common ground.
Easiest of all for Obama is to get some token changes to the Keystone XL
Pipeline, starting the year giving Republicans something to crow about. Now circulating in the Senate to
find common ground, signing a revised version of Keystone XL would start the
last two years on the right foot.
Democrat arguments about how a pipeline pollutes more than trucking oil some
1,700 miles from Alberta, Canada to Houston, Texas makes zero sense. Transporting tar sands crude oil from Canada to Houston in a hermetically sealed pipeline
is the cleanest, most environmentally-friendly way to go. Obama’s objection about the oil
benefiting Canada more than the U.S. also makes no sense. Every time you get more crude oil to
refineries at a cheaper price, it’s bound to help U.S. consumers. Whether the pipeline jobs created
are temporary or not, it’s always that way with infrastructure projects.
Meeting with Congressional Republicans, Obama should seize the
opportunity to start the New Year the right way.
Before he weighs his options, Obama should remember the GOP mandate in
the Midterm Election. If voters
liked the way the White House handled domestic and foreign policy, they wouldn’t
have voted for Republicans. Now
that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is Senate Majority Leader, Obama must face the
new reality of GOP control. Simply
playing obstructionist will leave voters with doubts about another Democratic
president in 2016. Moderate
candidates likely to unify the GOP, like Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Mitt Romney
or whomever, will make a strong appeal that to work with Congress the country
needs a moderate Republican president.
If Obama can show that he can work with Congressional Republicans,
Democrats might have a shot in 2016.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said all the wrong things, warning the
GOP that Obama was readying his veto pen.
Raising questions “about how serious they are about trying to work with
president,” Earnest hasn’t come to grips with the consequences of the Nov. 4
election. Threatening vetoes only
makes the GOP argument about why the country needs and Republican president in
2016. There’s nothing that objectionable about Keystone XL for the White House
to compromise. Comprising on
Keystone XL should help the White House open some minds in Congress. Since signing the Affordable Care
into law March 21, 2010 over 100% Republican objections, Obama has faced the
most contentious Congress in modern times.
Letting Keystone XL happen would be the most politically savvy move Obama
could make. Starting out with some
bipartisanship would pay dividends.
Looking to the U.S. for
guidance on the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks, the White House needs to get on
the same page as Congressional Republicans about Homeland Security. Faced with re-funding the Department of Homeland Security, House Speaker John Boehner
(R-Ohio) made it clear he doesn’t want Obama to use the new funding to advance
unilateral executive action on immigration.
“Our goal is to fund the Department of Homeland Security. And it is our second goal is to stop
the president’s executive overreach,” said Boehner, referring to Obama’s Nov.
21, 2014 executive order delaying deportations on illegal immigrants with
children born in the U.S. White
House officials know they must work with McConnell and Boehner to get something
done in the next two years. Obama
needs to pivot toward compromise with Republicans or make it more difficult for
Democrats in 2016.
./o:p>
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