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Houston Politics

Congress’ Cloud of Uncertainty

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For Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney the heat is on, whether that be the heat of summer, or the election. But as “interesting” as the biting between these two men can be, I’m continually led to a question. Are we focusing too much on the Presidential race? I’m inclined to think so.

Take all of the mishaps that have occurred in Congress since President Obama was elected. The President is NOT a member of Congress… he no longer votes on legislation. He also cannot the agenda of legislation for the House and the Senate. If you think of a football game, the President is a coach. No matter how much he wants to at times, he can’t run into the field, take the ball and run it through to the endzone. He stays on the sidelines. Now he can yell, shout and turn over some chairs, but he’s not allowed to play.

So the question remains… if he’s not playing the game, why must all the losses be blamed on him? He’s not in CONGRESS. He can’t vote on legislation. And, thankfully for the GOP, he has no way to stop them from fouling up every initiative that Democrats have tried to pass. We know that nothing’s getting done in Washington right now, but for some strange reason, Americans want a singular figure to be representative of the blame. That almost, always turns out to be the President.

But does it make a difference to know that we are living in a time of insanely bad Congressional sabotage. Almost every single day since January 2011, members of Congress (mostly GOP) have wasted our tax money with “secret filibusters” and show votes. Ezra Klein noted very eloquently on the Rachel Maddow show, we are beyond even a “Do-Nothing Congress now. The 112th session may end up being the worst Congress in history. Take a look at this astounding chart…

The 112th… our current Congress… is at the very end. Even when compared to the other very low numbers, this Congress hasn’t passed half the amount of legislation as the others. Simply put, they are not doing right by the American People. We elected them to PASS LEGISLATION, and they’re not doing it. Everyone is upset that the job market is sluggish, but no one wants to talk about WHY it’s sluggish. Take a look at the chart. If the members of Congress were doing their job… the job we pay them to do… more Americans would be able to do THEIR jobs and not worry about the “Congressional Cloud of Uncertainty” that swirls around us.

The reason why hiring is so sluggish is because small-business owners have no earthly idea what the government is going to do. Are taxes going to go up or down? Will we be in a recession next year, or not? Will I have to pay for all of my employee’s healthcare, a part of it, or just incentivize them to buy their own. Business owners across the country are frustrated, because of the uncertainty. But here’s the critical thing to understand… most of this uncertainty has been caused by the GOP, NOT the President. The Supreme Court has ruled, and the Healthcare lawsuit is now OVER. The Affordable Care Act (what many refer to as “Obamacare” is national law. But if you listend to GOP Congress members, you’d think it was just one of hundreds of bills still being wrangled about. The way they talk, everything that has occurred during the Obama administration is up for debate. All of this belligerence and devisiveness grows the cloud of uncertainty.

So here’s my take… If you’re a Democrat, and a supporter of the President and Democrats, you have to keep some attention on the misbehavior within Congress. 33 votes to repeal the ACA? That’s WASTEFUL… it wasted America’s time and America’s money. The House could have voted on JOBS legislation during that time, and more people could be working today. They continue to block desperately-needed state and local funding to keep our roads repaired and good educators in our schools. Caught up in all of the partisan wrangling are US Postal Workers and public employees whose jobs are literally being funded month-to-month thanks to Congressional ineptitude. If Democrats and President Obama have any hope of re-election in November, this case must be made loud and clear.

Let’s all tell Congress to GET TO WORK!!

Houston Politics

The ABCs of the GOP: G is for

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Game Plan

Say what you want about the Republican Party, but there are a whole host of things that they are VERY good at. The level of cohesion and consistency with which they execute their directives is admirable, if not enviable. Often times in interviews and speeches, GOP politicians sound like a “broken record” because they rarely deviate from the script, and this script comes from the party leadership. They’re also extremely sore losers.

After their decisive defeat in 2008, Republicans crafted a plan of historic proportions to make Obama a “one-term President”. The 2010 elections marked the halfway point to that conquest, and boy did it work. The approach was comprehensive, passionate, and delivered to the most minute detail.

Remember the “Fire Pelosi” bus tour? “Fire Pelosi” bumper stickers, campaign signs, pins and hats? It was a bold calculation by then RNC chairman Michael Steele to go after the Speaker of the House, and it was marvelously orchestrated. Rep. Nancy Pelosi became more hated than anyone else in Washington, and, perhaps most importantly, she bacame a house-hold name that left a bad taste in one’s mouth. The general public, even those that didn’t follow politics, knew that in order to “Fire Pelosi” you had to vote the Democrats out of the House. The phrase was everywhere in 2010, and the campaign was so successful in fact that it helped raise millions of dollars for the RNC. Even back in March of 2010, “Fire Nancy Pelosi” was trending on Google!! It’s a testament to the effectiveness with which the GOP apparatus operates. Who cares if the message wasn’t predicated in truth or facts? It WORKED.

Seen any “Fire Boehner” materials this year? That’s because that campaign doesn’t exist. Do we need to be reminded who won in 2010??

Of course even Nancy Pelosi was not Grand Ole Enemy No. 1… that will always be President Obama. Their pledge to obstruct, weaken and destroy his policies has been the main objective, even when it hurts their damages their credibility by having to abandon previous positions. As the GOP is well aware, President Obama isn’t the far-left socialist they proclaim him to be. Many of the ideas and policies he supports were started by Republicans. This is true for the Dream Act, Cap and Trade legislation, and even the individual mandate. As journalist Ezra Klein points out in a recent New Yorker column, “Indeed, with the exception of raising taxes on the rich, virtually every major policy currently associated with the Obama Administration was, within the past decade, a Republican idea in good standing.” What they know very well is that in order for Obama to be the enemy, they must oppose him at every turn. They have placed party loyalty above our struggling economy, governing our nation, and even their own moral character. The GOP game plan is above all… especially in an election year.

Hopefully the President is starting to figure this out. But what about the rest of the Democratic Party? Dems are making a big mistake by hoping that the GOP will suddenly grow a conscience and play fair. So it’s high time that they play dirty. Liberals and Democrats should be calling out GOP hypocrisy at every turn. They should encourage left-leaning media sources to give equal treatment to their fallacies. But most importantly, the left has got to fight the money, ad and social media wars. At any given time of day, it’s apparent that Twitter has “more Conservatives than liberals”. But is this really the case? Probably not… but the Conservatives are more disciplined and tweet in concert so that their arguments dominate the Twittersphere. The GOP’s game plan is effective because they have put the time and effort in to perfect it. In the age of 24-hr news and a barrage of information, Liberals can no longer rely on facts and better argument to carry them through to election day. They need to get some real skin in the political game. Just remember Dems… the game clock is ticking, and pretty soon it will run out.