Over a year ago I commented on a discussion thread on Politico.com, engaging in some drive-by commentary, that the Republicans would gain 47 seats during the 2010 election cycle. The lefties, liberals, and eco-topians jumped on my punditry with comments like:
What planet are you on?
What have you been smoking?
Brought your lap-top to the bar, again, ehh?
Hey Rip, where have you been?
Hope and Change springs eternal. Who is hee-hawing now? The election landscape has changed so dramatically that some are asking whether a veto-proof majority looms. It may be possible in the House of Representatives, but unlikely in the Senate. For a veto-proof majority the Republicans would have to win 290 seats in the House and hold 67 seats in the Senate.
Nothing the current administration has done to fight the economic malaise (a Carter phrase, since this is the second term he never had) has worked. The unemployment still hovers around 9%. The housing mess gets worse, exacerbated by little income growth and no employment growth. Stimulus. What Stimulus? The only thing that has been stimulated is the wallets of the various cronies, interest groups and fellow travelers of the Obama administration and their congressional allies.
We have reached the tipping point. As the party of government (Democrats) battles to preserve the paychecks of their apparatchiks in government; meanwhile the government of the people (Republicans) push back, offering tax cuts and spending cuts in an effort to turn the economy around. A political war is breaking out between the entrepreneurial class and the ruling class.
The question remains whether the Republican’s have the stones to offer meaningful cuts as in slicing department budgets by 25% or eliminating whole departments. We shall see. The “mad as hell” voter is out there and ready to pull the lever for any politician that will get us back to fiscal sanity. Now that would have a greater simulative effect by throwing the tax and spend rascals out.
The Obama administration continues to throw fuel on the American public’s dissatisfaction with its policies by offering up another stimulus package. If the first one failed, why would voters support another? This administration is pulling out all the stops to really put its allies in Congress on the defensive. The administrations policies have energized the opposition. The only question is the depth of Republican takeover of Congress, come November. Veto proof majorities may not be possible during this election cycle, but if there is no improvement in the economy, the American public will not put up with it. These are very interesting political times.
No comments:
Post a Comment