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Republicans Poised to Take Control of Congress

By Jeff Mays on Oct 28th 2010 2:55PM
Filed under: News, Politics, President Obama

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Republicans Poised to Take Control of Congress

Americans asked for it and they may get it.

Preparing to possibly win the 40 seats they would need to take control of the House and also preparing to gain seats in the Senate, Republicans have begun laying out plans to reverse much of what President Barack Obama has accomplished during the last two years.
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The AP writes:

Most agree a marquee item on a new GOP majority's agenda would be an aggressive package of spending cuts, on the order of $100 billion or more, that could also be paired with steps to block implementation of key parts of Obama's health care law and new financial regulations.

Republicans laid out some of their wish-list last month in the "Pledge to America," which called for tax and spending cuts, health care law repeal and congressional reform, among other things. Some GOP leaders argue a victory on Election Day would give them a strong mandate to carry out such changes, although many of them are likely to run into strong Democratic opposition.

"If the public puts us in the majority, they're saying that they want this to go forward," said Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., one of the pledge's architects.

An impatient public has perhaps been Obama's biggest challenge. But things could be about to change.



"What we see typically in midterm election is the president's party losing seats and having the potential to lose control of the House. In large part, that's a function of voter impatience. They want to see the promises made during the campaign implemented but what administrations are trying to do is enormously complicated. It's easy to talk about in soundbites but much harder to accomplish," said Brigid Harrison, a professor of political science at Montclair State University in New Jersey, to Aol. BlackVoices.

The question is how will Obama, with two years left in his term and re-election fast approaching, handle the change.

I've heard President Obama say many times that he'd rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two term president. I hope he meant what he said because these next two years will test that.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif, one of the authors of the not-so-well received Pledge to America, thinks Obama should do what former President Bill Clinton did when Democrats lost control of the House in 1994:

Obama should "realize the election's over, realize the message the voters have sent and maybe go study what Bill Clinton did," moving to the right to meet Republicans.

The AP's White House correspondent thinks Obama will focus on cutting the deficit and protecting his gains. Ben Feller writes:

Obama will try to make gains on deficit reduction, education and energy. He will enforce his health care and financial overhauls and try to protect them from repeal should Republicans win control of Capitol Hill. He will use executive authority when blocked by Congress, and steel for scrutiny and investigations if the GOP is in charge.

While trying to save money, Obama will have to decide whether to bend to Republican and growing Democratic pressure to extend Bush-era tax cuts, even for the wealthy, that expire at year's end. Obama wants to extend them for people making less than $200,000 and married couples making less than $250,000, but a broader extension is gaining favor with an increasing number of Democrats.

Harrison said losing the House may actually help Obama, because he will be forced to become more moderate and less ideological. That will help increase his popularity, which could help him gain re-election. But there is a downside:

"It means there tends to be obstructionism in Washington but much more compromise and negotiation. Less gets done because the president can't just enact his agenda. Congress can't just enact legislation and bank on the president signing it," Harrison said.

For Obama, being more centrist could mean taking a harder look at our massive deficit. Hopefully that means taking a look at our budget slurping defense spending.

"If we're going to get serious about the deficit, then we're going to have to look at everything: entitlements, defense spending, revenues. ... And that's going to be a tough conversation," Obama said.

I hope Americans are prepared for that. It could mean that the unemployment benefits are drying up while the jobs are still not there. It could mean insurance companies not having to cover people again.

But maybe its time for some tough talk and tough action. After all, this is what Americans want.



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