It’s becoming increasingly clear that the Obama campaign strategy in next year’s election will be two-fold.
First, “kill” Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, Michelle Bachmann, or whoever the Republican standard bearer is, through a billion dollar campaign of negative ads, and slash and burn tactics. Of course we’ve seen this on both sides before, but the vitriol this time may well be unprecedented.
And second, run against an allegedly “do nothing Congress” as President Harry Truman did back in 1948. It worked for Truman 60 plus years ago. It’s not so clear that it will work this year for one big reason. What we really have is a do nothing Harry Reid-led, Democrat-controlled Senate, and a quite active John Boehner Republican-controlled House.
A few examples. Each chamber of the Congress, the Senate and the House, are required to pass a budget each year (so there are limits on spending.) The Democrat-controlled Senate hasn’t passed a budget in three years. The Republican-controlled House passed the so-called Ryan Budget earlier this year. This budget is remarkable in a number of ways, but perhaps most importantly, because it saves Medicare from going broke.
In addition, the majority of Americans believe that Obamacare should be repealed. In line with that point of view, Republicans in the House passed a bill repealing Obamacare. The Senate failed to take any action. And many experts believe that fear of additional costs due to Obamacare has kept small business owners from ramping up their hiring – thus hurting the economy and resulting in high unemployment. (I share this belief.)
Further, the regulation-happy Dodd-Frank Bill dramatically increased red tape and new regulations on the financial and business community, resulting in making it harder and harder to borrow money from banks and grow jobs. The House voted to repeal Dodd-Frank, the Senators sat on their liberal haunches.
And finally, during the debt ceiling standoff, the Republican-controlled House passed the Cut, Cap, and Balance bill. It would have cut more wasteful Washington spending sooner, capped future spending, and required a Balanced Budget Amendment to be passed BEFORE the debt ceiling was raised. Cut, Cap, and Balance would have been a much more responsible solution to the debt ceiling dilemma – but Harry Reid said “NO.” So once again, the Republican-controlled House acted, but the Democrat-controlled Senate did – nothing.
Remember, when you hear “do nothing Congress” from the lips of President Obama or from his campaign operatives, think “do nothing Democrat Senate.” Don’t be fooled.