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.

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John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.


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