Yesterday, as dictated by the U.S.
Constitution, Congress convened at noon.
On the Senate floor, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky automatically
ascended to Majority Leaded, based on a vote by rank-and-file members late last
year. On the other side of the Capitol,
there was slightly more suspense as a group of hard core Right Wing members
acted on their vow to oppose Representative John Boehner from Ohio.
I’ll spare you the gritty details. Twenty-four members voted for a candidate
other than Mr. Boehner. The Speaker won
on the first ballot, collecting 216 votes.
And they are off.
Over the past 6 years, the GOP has made pretty
much every effort to circle the wagons and oppose President Obama at every
front. Now that, for the first time
during Mr. Obama’s tenure, he will face opposition from a majority of
Republicans in both Houses of Congress, there are reasons to believe that the
GOP will intensify their efforts. A
significant basis for such reasoning stems from the prognoses offered by
prominent members of the Republican Party.
Senator McConnell has promised to forge ahead with legislation to force
approval of the TransCanada Corps Keystone XL pipeline. Many Democrats, including the President see
this project as a threat to the environment.
Supporters, mostly Republicans argue the project will create jobs and
increase North American energy security.
Another item Republicans vow to challenge is
funding for Homeland Security.
Republicans have threatened to compartmentalize and parcel out funding
for the agency in an effort to limit resources aimed at facilitating the
President’s Executive Order on immigration, as well as the President’s actions
to normalize relations with Cuba.
One-way of looking at the matter is, New Year, same goal…stop
Obama. However, now, the loyal
opposition, which is probably a misnomer, is buttressed by having secured a
majority in both Houses of Congress.
There is general agreement that the President’s
initiatives and policies are frequently a target of fierce opposition by
Republicans. However, the basis for the
opposition is widely debated. As a rule,
Republicans insist they simply disagree with the President’s policies. They add his initiatives are too liberal,
cost too much money, are too restrictive of the private sector, limit job
creation, and slow the economy. In fact,
this narrative was at the top of the news cycle as Democrats got their
proverbial clocks cleaned during the midyear elections in 2014.This often
specious line of reasoning persists, despite the facts on the ground.
Which facts are those, you may ask? I’m glad you asked!
The pertinent facts relative to this specific
discussion are:
January 2009.............................................November
2014
(When President Obama Took Office)
7,949.....................The Dow Jones
Index.................17,390
7.8%.......................Unemployment..........................
5.9%
-5.4%......................GDP Growth...............................4.6%
9.8%.......................Deficit GDP
%............................ 2.8%
37.7........................Consumer
Confidence.................94.5
Also under President Obama's
leadership, the economy has added private sector jobs for 57 straight months.
During this span, 10.9 million private sector jobs have been created. - See
more at: http://www.dpcc.senate.gov/?p=blog&id=172#sthash.U6oVuYLM.dpuf
Many of the President’s supporters have the temerity to assert that at
least some of the visceral anger surrounding the debate on President Obama and
is policies has a racial component.
Actually, that is the claim to which many of the President’s critics
default. In point of counterfactual
order, I am compelled to note that one of the most ardent members of the
President’s opposition, Rush Limbaugh, makes the claim that Mr. Obama has
gotten a break…because he is black. He
contended just this week, "It's
Much Easier To Throw In With The First African American President Than To
Oppose Him," or else you "Might Face Allegations Of Racism."
In other words, the
people who experience racism, and deign to speak about it, are the
racists. What a stroke of journalistic
brilliance that is! But it’s not just
conservative journalists…and radio entertainers, who have interesting views and
associations relative to this matter.
Recently, there was a
flap about a speaking engagement Representative Steve Scalise, of Louisiana,
who when he was a State Representative spoke to a racist organization founded
by David Duke, former
Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard. The group,
called EURO, is short for European-American
Unity and Rights Organization. When the speech came to
light last week, Representative Scalise denied he knew the group’s leanings, or
the meaning of the event. This was his
story, despite the fact that at the time, Mr. Duke was one of the most
prominent residents of his state, and his association with the Klan, well
known, if not legendary. All of this has
substantial significance because, among other things, he is the new House
Majority Whip. The apparent affinity of
the GOP with the ideals of racializing politics has been an active reality
since Mr. Nixon rolled out the “Southern strategy” in 1968. The concept
was designed to leverage the racial resentment of whites over federally
mandated integration into an electoral majority. The rest, as they say is history.
Even some
conservatives question the viability of Mr. Scalise’s see no evil
protestation. Erick Erickson, a
prominent conservative blogger tweeted: "How Do You Show Up at a David Duke
Event and Not Know What It Is?”
Speaker Boehner was
placed in the unenviable position of defending his new Whip. He characterized Mr. Scalise’s speaking to
white supremacists as “an error in judgment,” and he noted Scalise was “right
to acknowledge it was wrong and inappropriate.”
Despite his faux pas, Speaker Boehner called Scalise “a man of high
integrity and good character.” Other friends
and supporters chimed in with evidence of how demonstrably non-racist the
gentleman from Louisiana truly is. After
all, he was an early supporter of Governor Bobby Jindal, the Republican
Governor of Louisiana, and an Indian American.
Check. He coached in a
predominantly black New Orleans basketball league. Check.
He voted against the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. OK, nobody is perfect.
American demographics
are changing. If the GOP is to thrive
and survive, it will need to be agile, innovative, and flexible. It will ultimately need to devise effective
strategies to appeal to a diverse array of citizens. However, all things considered, one way not
to attract African American and Latino voters — in fact, one way to repel them,
along with the votes of some whites as well — is to continue to act in ways that
demonstrate the party is still happy to welcome the support of unrepentant
racists and anti-Semites.
It is altogether
conceivable that the Republican Party will say clearly that anyone associated
with David Duke, his organizations, or any racist association should find
somebody else for whom to vote…someday.
But apparently, if the Scalise saga is any indication, that day has yet
to come. So, "The GOP Has Taken Over Congress: Are You Ready for This?"
I’m done; holla back!
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