112th Congress

Barack Obama FINALLY Acting As Harry Truman In 1948, And Elements Of TR And FDR Too!

Ronald Leave a comment

After three years being “nice” and trying to work with the Republican opposition, and being constantly rejected and repudiated, President Barack Obama is set to run a campaign reminding us of Harry Truman in 1948, when the odds were heavily against him, and yet he defeated not only Republican nominee Thomas E. Dewey, but also regained both houses of Congress for his Democratic Party!

Truman gave the Republican 80th Congress “hell”, campaigning against their negativism, and looking back, that 80th Congress accomplished more than the 112th Congress has done!

Even if one argues that the Senate is Democratic controlled, the reality is that the Republicans, utilizing the filibuster or the threat of it, and have effectively controlled the Senate as well as having actual control of the House of Representatives.

Obama’s change in strategy seemed to have started in Osawatomie, Kansas, when he invoked Teddy Roosevelt, who used the Presidency as a “bully pulpit”!

Obama will now combine TR’s “bully pulpit” with Truman’s “give them hell” and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s welcoming of the opposition of conservatives and the wealthy in his 1936 campaign. And Obama can also invoke FDR complaining about the Republicans attacking his dog Fala in 1944, as now they have attacked the fact that Obama spent an hour shopping for his dog Bo!

So, President Obama, use the campaigns of TR in 1904, FDR in 1936 and 1944, and Truman in 1948, and the GOP will not recover from such an assault!

The Absolutely Worst Congress In Modern American History: The 112th Congress, First Session!

Ronald Leave a comment

The first session of the 112th Congress stands out only negatively: as the Congress which did nothing to unite the American people, solve problems, promote cooperation with the President; or avoid crises. Instead, the GOP majority in the House of Representatives under Speaker of the House John Boehner was unable to work to create jobs or show willingness to cooperate at all with the President.

Meanwhile, the Senate, technically under Democratic control, had its 47 Republican member minority abuse the filibuster and even utilize the threat to use it, so as to make it impossible to accomplish any legislation, or any cooperation with the White House.

Only when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky realized that his party was looking badly on the middle class tax cut continuation issue did he take action to force the Republican majority in the House to give in and prevent a tax increase, which would have been political suicide.

The Tea Party Caucus of about 80 members promoted destructive behavior and an anti government anarchism that is totally terrifying.

Only if McConnell and Boehner decide to fight letting one third of their caucus to continue their “blackmail” over the leadership of their party in both houses of Congress, will they get elected to a majority in the Congressional Elections of 2012. To expect any action of positive nature from the 112th Congress is a dream not to be fulfilled as things stand right now.

It is odd that the disaster of the 112th Congress comes after the very successful 111th Congress, the best since the 89th Congress of 1965-1966!

House Speaker John Boehner Needs To Show Some “Cajones”!

Ronald 1 Comment

Speaker of the House John Boehner is now faced with a revolt against the Senate passed two month extension of the middle class payroll tax cut, the continuation of unemployment compensation for those on it, and the delay in cuts in Medicare payments to doctors.

The vote in the Senate was 89-10, but now Tea Party House Republicans are refusing to support the extension, which is far from ideal, as there should have been an agreement to extend these provisions for an entire year.

But at this late date of the calendar year, if no action is taken, then these provisions will expire, and Senate Democrats have made it clear there will be no return to Washington DC by the adjourned Senate. If taxes go up for the middle class; unemployment benefits are ended; and Medicare doctors lose some of their payments, there will be hell to pay!

It is time, after a year of conflict and confrontation that is the worst in Congressional history, that Speaker Boehner show some “cajones”, and make it clear that the Tea Party radicals are not going to hold the nation hostage for the umpteenth time! The 112th Congress MUST get its act together, and not a moment to waste!

Boehner has to show he has the capability of former Speakers such as Sam Rayburn, Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, and even Newt Gingrich, to get things done!

Boehner needs to impose discipline and make these radicals know who is the boss, even at the sacrifice of his Speakership in the next Congress!

He will need to work with traditional conservative Republicans and Democrats to get the country’s business accomplished this next year, as we cannot tolerate another year of such confrontational government!

Refusal to do so will convince voters to give up the experiment in divided government, and the Republicans will be the losers!

It is time for everyone of common decency and humanity to declare “war” on the Tea Party, come hell or high water, and put the nation’s needs in the forefront!

An Embarrassment How Low Congress Is Rated!

Ronald 2 Comments

The United States Congress has become highly unpopular this year, with its inability to get ANYTHING done, including the Debt Ceiling debacle, and now the failure of the Super Committee of Twelve to bring about a budget deal by today.

A poll issued this week demonstrates the embarrassment that the 112th Congress faces, often considered now the worst Congress in American history!

This comes after the 111th Congress was the most productive since the 89th Congress of 1965-1966.

Congress rates at 9 percent popularity, but more than that figure is the reality of what else is unpopular in the poll, and the numbers involved.

The Internal Revenue Service has a popularity rating of 40 percent; the Airline Industry is at 29 percent; Lawyers also at 29 percent; Richard Nixon during Watergate at 24 percent; Banks at 23 percent; the OIl and Gas Industry at 20 percent; British Petroleum during the Oil Spill last year at 16 percent; Paris Hilton at 15 percent; if the United States were to go Communist at 11 percent; Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez at the same 9 percent as Congress; and Fidel Castro at 5 percent!

This is bound to have some effect on the Congressional elections in 2012, and since the House of Representatives majority are Republicans, and the entire chamber faces election, it seems likely that the GOP will lose seats, and probably, control of the majority, while the US Senate only has one third of its seats up in 2012, and so the Democrats might actually keep control of their thin majority in that chamber, and maybe even gain a few seats.

The Long List Of Republican Presidential Dropouts: Why If 2012 Is Such A Great Year For The GOP?

Ronald 1 Comment

Common belief is that 2012 will see the defeat of President Barack Obama, and recent polls seem to indicate such, except, of course, for the fact that polls in the summer and fall of the year BEFORE the national elections are notoriously misleading!

But with such predictions and prognostications, why is it that a long list of Republicans, some of them very attractive possibilities, have decided NOT to seek the Presidency?

First the list of candidates in no special order:

Jeb Bush
Haley Barbour
John Bolton
Mitch Daniels
Jim DeMint
Mike Huckabee
Bobby Jindal
Mike Pence
David Petraeus
Paul Ryan
John Thune
Donald Trump
Rudy Guiliani
Sarah Palin
Chris Christie

That is a list of FIFTEEN people, some of them very appealing in different ways, who have decided NOT to run!

But why?

1. It is an arduous chore, costly, dominating, stressful to run for President, and becomes all encompassing to the candidate and his or her family.
2. It requires tremendous financial and organizational support to make a serious run for President, not easily achieved.
3. It requires a “thick skin” with the strong criticisms and investigations of one’s record, of everything ever said or done, that is automatic when one runs for President.
4. It requires a candidate to be knowledgeable, informed, and to have good debate skills against potential opponents.
5. It is required that a candidate have the “fire in the belly” that he or she is meant to run, and willingness to sacrifice his or her life for a year or more.

With all of the above, one other point should be made in conclusion: The candidate has to believe that Barack Obama can be defeated in 2012, or else it is better to wait to 2016!

The author would contend that many on this list, maybe all of them, see the chore of dislodging Barack Obama from the Presidency to be a very difficult job, no matter what is uttered publicly!

The President will have a billion dollar campaign fund; a record of major accomplishments rivaling the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson domestically, certainly the most since the first term of Richard Nixon, the most in FORTY YEARS, that he can be proud of; PLUS exceptional achievements in the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and general respect around the world! His record on defense and foreign policy is outstanding, with his ONLY major failure being the economy, one that he inherited and has been unable to overcome due to the total intransigence of the opposition party, which now controls the House of Representatives, and is doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to create jobs, build infrastructure, promote education and innovation, and will go down as the worst Congress in decades!

Barack Obama will be able to call them the “do nothing” Congress as Harry Truman did when he ran for election in 1948. The difference is that even the GOP Congress of 1947-1948, the 80th Congress, DID support the President on foreign policy initiatives, while the Republicans today ignore or dismiss accomplishments of the President in that area! So this is actually a far worse Congress, the 112th Congress, than the 80th Congress was!

So the ultimate conclusion is that the Republicans who decided not to run assume that Obama will win, and are holding their future to 2016, when it is likely MANY of the above will be running for President in a year they project as a year when the incumbent President will NOT be able to run, an open year which maximizes their opportunities for the White House!

Finally, the reception that those candidates for President who are running are receiving is NOT a good sign for any of them, that they will somehow unite the Republican Party and defeat Barack Obama in 2012! There is great discontent over the choices, and that is the reason why there has been a clamor, unsuccessful, to get others in the race. And of course, the Tea Party Movement is also destroying any chance for GOP unity, so if the Republicans want a future, they must divorce the Tea Party Movement after what will be a likely debacle in 2012, if they wish to succeed Barack Obama in the White House in the Presidential Election Of 2016!

The Ideological Extremes In The House Of Representatives: Forecast Of More Conflict And Turmoil To Come!

Ronald Leave a comment

When one looks at the recent developments in the House of Representatives, it is clear that the forecast is one of more conflict to come over the next 17 months of the 112th Congress!

87 Republicans are freshmen, and most of them are self declared Tea Party Movement activists, who plan on no compromise on anything with the Democrats. Additionally, there are Republicans in the chamber who claim to be sympathetic to the same cause. meaning between one fifth and one fourth of the House is extreme ideological Right!

At the same time, there are over 80 members of the Democratic Party in the House that are declared members of the Progressive Caucus, dedicated to the progressive agenda considered by some as the ideological Left.

So between 40-45 percent of the House is very unwilling to compromise, and that means deadlock and turmoil for the next two years, brought about by the creation of a divided Congress, but for the first time with a Republican House and a Democratic Senate, rather than the past experiences of the opposite control of the two chambers of Congress!

The “Do Nothing” 112th Congress: Worst In Generations!

Ronald Leave a comment

The 112th Congress, the first at least since 1900 to have a Republican House and Democratic Senate rather than the opposite when there is a divided Congress, has managed in six months to create a disgraceful record of NOT dealing with the economic crisis facing the nation!

With Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and others in the Republican Party focused on making the economy worse as a reason to have the voters turn out President Obama for a second Presidential term, we have seen no action on creating jobs, passing bills, approving Presidential appointments to various judicial and executive posts, or doing anything constructive in any form!

This irresponsible Congress comes right after one of the most constructive Congresses in American history, the 111th Congress under Speaker Nancy Pelosi!

This could be the most negative, unaccomplished Congress since Harry Truman ran against what he called the “do nothing” 80th Congress of 1947-1948, leading to his surprise victory and the Democrats regaining the majority in both houses in the 1948 election!

Instead of offering a real alternative for 14 million plus unemployed people, all the Republicans can do is promote economic instability and threaten the safety net of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, which one would think were well established and would not come under sustained attack!

It all comes down to the old reality that Democrats care about people, and Republicans care about property and possessions–or material things in another descriptive manner–rather than the welfare of the masses of citizens!

Is Unemployment The Priority Of The 112th Congress? Apparently Not!

Ronald Leave a comment

Considering that we have more unemployed people, over 15 million now, greater than ever in American history, one would think that the 112th Congress would be doing something about it.

However, any such thoughts have been shown to be just that, thoughts, as the Republican House of Representatives, led by Speaker John Boehner, is clearly unwilling to address the issue, certainly not with more spending to create public service jobs, even though there is clearly a need for infrastructure building and rebuilding.

If anything, the goal is to cut government spending, and to stop interference in state government budget crises, as President Obama attempted to do in the first two years of his administration, with a Democratic Congress.

The effects of the state budget crises all over America is to cause growing unemployment in public jobs, and the rhetoric is more toward ignoring the plight of millions of Americans, who are discovering that the GOP majority they created in the House of Representatives, plus the takeover of many Governorships by Republicans, is showing utter disregard of the unemployed and unfortunate among us.

It is likely that this 112th Congress will go down as the least productive since the time of Herbert Hoover, in regards to the reality that unemployed people are desperate, and the “99ers” are left without any income, in an economy that offers no hope of any change for many years, and for some of them, probably never!

Since the GOP controls the budget matters before it gets to the US Senate, any chance of Democrats or President Obama doing anything substantive for the unemployed, seems unlikely.

The only hope is that the nation will see how the Republicans simply don’t care about those less fortunate, and that these unemployed, plus many people fortunate to have a job, will react by throwing the Republicans out of control of the lower chamber in 2012!

The US Senate In Turmoil: Rapid Turnover Becoming A Fact Of Life

Ronald Leave a comment

The US Senate is often called the greatest debating society in the world, and it carries tremendous prestige, with so many of its members often thought by them and by others as potential candidates for the Presidency.

So the rapid turnover going on in recent years is a fact of life, but it helps to make the Senate appear in turmoil with so many new members.

In the 112th Congress, there are 16 new senators, 13 Republicans and three Democrats, and now a total of five Senators, three Democrats and two Republicans, have announced their intention to retire at the end of their terms in 2012.

Democrats Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Jim Webb of Virginia, and Independent Democrat Joe Lieberman are leaving, and Republicans Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Jon Kyl of Arizona also are retiring, with all but Webb having had multiple terms in the Senate.

A lot of the wisdom and the vision of the Senate is leaving, so while many have varying views of all these five Senators, in many ways it is a sign of the stresses and tensions of serving in the Senate, making it far less desirable for many to stay beyond two to three terms.

Of course, on the other hand, it might be a good thing that fewer Senators are deciding to remain to the point where they might be wearing out their welcome–which, at least in the mind of Tea Party Movement leaders, might be true of Republicans Senators Orrin Hatch of Utah, Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Richard Lugar of Indiana, with Hatch and Lugar having served six terms already, but still planning to run yet again in 2012. The question of whether it is good for some Senators to serve into their 80s remains a major subject of debate, even at a time when others decide to “throw in the towel” by a more normal retirement age.

Budget Cuts In The Real World: Total Confusion Of Americans!

Ronald Leave a comment

A CBS News Poll demonstrates the difficulties involved in the need to cut government spending.

77 percent want spending cut to deal with the deficit and the national debt, while only 9 percent want to raise taxes.

But ask people what should be cut, and then one realizes just how difficult it is going to be for either the Republican House or the Democratic Senate and President Obama to come to grips with the crisis.

63 percent say to cut cut Social Security for the wealthy, but how is the issue of what is “wealthy” to be determined, particularly in a nation where tax cuts for the wealthy have been part of policy under Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Republican Congresses, and was part of the Obama tax deal with the GOP in December? Interesting that people want the wealthy to lose benefits, and yet the Republican Party is bitterly opposed to any such idea.

58 percent support reducing money for projects in their area, what is now called “earmarks”, but is that really true when such “pork” helps creates employment, boosts the economy, and promotes infrastructure improvement and public works which people like and want?

55 percent want farm subsidies reduced, such as for tobacco, cotton, and dairy, but will GOP representatives and senators whose constituents want it and vote for the Republican party, really vote for that?

52 percent want to reduce defense spending, but it could be argued that it could undermine our national security, and would force the closing of naval, air and military bases in many states, affecting the economy in a detrimental way.

Other areas to cut spending get a negative reaction, such as 48-45, people are against eliminating the mortgage interest deduction; 54-43 against raising the retirement age; 56-41 against reducing money for student loans; 65-33 against raising taxes; 67-27 against reducing health care and education spending (which the Republicans want to do, including repealing the Obama Health Care plan); and 69-26 against taxing health care benefits.

So what it comes down to is that Americans want to “have their cake and eat it too!”, pay no more in taxes but only hurt others rather than themselves!

In other words, the American people don’t want to face reality, and that makes the job of the politicians extremely difficult over the next two years of the 112th Congress!