...President Barack Obama at the White House
The Obama White House says it’s “going on the offensive”…..Well, it’s about time!
The president recently had a partial victory on the payroll tax cut. During the victory process, the House Speaker John Boehner and all of the House Republicans proceeded to shame themselves to all middleclass Americans. Due to this latest win, the president has now decided to step-up his offensive moves against a GOP run House and the Senate Republicans that had previously prevented him from passing seriously needed legislation.
The White House staff has just announced that going forward, the president intends to focus on pushing his theme of economic justice for ordinary middleclass Americans rather than continuing legislative battles with the Congressional Republicans.
This is a strategy that most sane Americans have been asking of the president for over a year. It is also an appropriate move, as the president’s approval ratings have been rising as the congressional approval has fallen to an all time low of 13%. (This is per a December 15, Gallup Poll.)
Per Joshua Earnest, the Deputy White House Press Secretary, “In terms of the president’s relationship with Congress in 2012, the president is no longer tied to sticking around Washington DC. Winning a full-year extension of the recent extension in payroll tax cuts is the last ‘must-do’ piece of legislation for the White House.”
Yes, it’s true that this new strategy is an 180ยบ turn from the Illinois senator who won the presidency in 2008 by promising to change the culture of Washington. And his promise to rise above the partisan fray and seek political compromises.
The Republican Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell made the president’s political relationship promises obsolete the day after the 2008 election when he stated that the GOP’s #1 goal was not to fix the US economy, but “to make President Obama a one term president”.
Obviously, the president and the Democrats thought at the time that this boastful proclamation was just some whining by the 2008 party that had lost big.
But after the Republicans in the US Senate stopped hundreds of bills by using the Filibuster more than all previous Senates “combined”. And in addition, after the unfortunate results of the 2010 midterm elections, the Republicans and their bizarre Tea Party members have left the president and the Democrats no choice for their future strategies.
Today, the concept of political “compromise” is a dirty word to the GOP. And, though it took too long, the president and the Democrats finally seemed to agree that the best strategy is to go after their political opposition head-on.
The only way the Democrats are going to get anything done for the American people is by taking back the House and by adding to the Democrat’s Senate majority in November. Under the current setup, the Democrats in the US Congress are wrongfully being included in the 13% low approval ratings due to their inability for being able to pass any helpful legislation for the average working American.
And with the Citizens-United case allowing the GOP to spend unlimited amounts of money for defeating the Democratic candidates, the idea of making deals with the Republicans between now and the November elections is nothing but a pipe-dream. From now to November, the president and the congressional Democrats must be on a 24/7 offensive surge.
As more proof of this new approach, Mr. Earnest said the new strategy had successfully planted “the image of a gridlocked, dysfunctional Congress and a president who is leaving no stone unturned to try to find solutions to the difficult financial challenges and economic challenges facing the country.”
President Obama began emphasizing his new strategy in early December with a fiery speech in Osawatomie, Kansas.
In this speech, he paid tribute to the past Republican President Teddy Roosevelt who had gone against the traditional positions of the GOP back in 1910. President Obama said that, as it had been for President Roosevelt in the early 1900’s, today’s “breathtaking corporate greed” was once again contributing to the country’s economic troubles. He also stated that this is a “make-or-break moment for today’s American middle class.” (Apparently, the “Occupy” groups across the country agree with this statement.)
The significance of the short-term win on the payroll tax relief was that it gave the president the opportunity to establish himself on an issue where the Democrats hadn’t been fairing very well. But with this recent win, it showed (and the polls agree), that Mr. Obama is now more trusted on future and fair taxation than the Republicans. As compared to the Republicans, especially those in the House of Representatives, President Obama now looks to most Americans as if he’s, “the only adult in the room”.
According to Mr. Earnest, “Winning a full-year extension of the payroll tax will still be a top priority.” He noted that House Republicans were now also arguing that the bill should be extended for a year, after many Republicans initially opposed extending it. But they also want some unacceptable conditions added to the bill which will still need to be worked out.
But as of today, the president is in a much stronger position and the American public is behind the president much more than the Republicans in congress.
I believe the new White House strategy is the correct one. Let’s hope it’s not “to little, too late” and that the president stays with this strategy beyond the November elections.
Copyright G.Ater 2012
Follow me on Twitter: gater01
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