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Jewish World Review
Nov. 8, 2010
/ 1 Kislev, 5771
Obama, new GOP lawmakers are on collision course
By
Byron York
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Here's Barack Obama's problem when it comes to dealing with newly elected Republican members of Congress. They are convinced they won because voters rejected Obama's agenda of national health care, spending and bailouts. But Obama cannot admit that his agenda -- his legacy -- is fundamentally flawed and that voters repudiated it. The result will be irreconcilable conflict. Just look at Ron Johnson, a man likely to be one of the more influential members of the new GOP class in the Senate. Last year, he was a highly successful plastics manufacturer in Oshkosh, Wis., who had never even thought about running for public office. Then he watched Obama and congressional Democrats march through the stimulus, the earmark-laden budget, the auto bailouts, and, finally, Obamacare. "For me, the final straw was when they passed the health care bill," Johnson said on the campaign trail last week. "I recognized that it is the single greatest assault on our freedom in my lifetime. It is absolutely designed to lead to a government takeover of our health care system. And we don't have to theorize what that is going to result in. It's going to result in rationed care, particularly for the elderly, particularly for the very ill. It's going to lower the quality of our care and reduce medical innovation." When Johnson decided to run, he based his candidacy on just two issues: cutting federal spending and repealing Obamacare. Not amending it, not tweaking it here and there -- Johnson wants to throw the whole thing out and start over. Now that he has won -- defeating Democratic legend and Obamacare defender Russ Feingold -- Johnson is determined to do just that. And he doesn't appear to be the type of man who casually abandons campaign promises. Contrast that with how President Obama answered a question about national health care during his post-election news conference. "Well, I know that there's some Republican candidates who ... feel very strongly about it," the president said. "Now, if the Republicans have ideas for how to improve our health care system, if they want to suggest modifications that would deliver faster and more effective reform to a health care system that has been wildly expensive for too many families and businesses and certainly for our federal government, I'm happy to consider some of those ideas." In other words, Obama is open to suggestions to make Obamacare a reality more quickly. That is not at all what the new Republican lawmakers have in mind. "We need to reverse course," Johnson told supporters at his victory party Tuesday night. He believes that's why he was elected. Meanwhile, to justify his hard-line defense of Obamacare and other initiatives, Obama is creating a counternarrative to explain his party's defeat. It wasn't his policies that were to blame, it was the economy. "If right now we had 5 percent unemployment instead of 9.6 percent unemployment, then people would have more confidence in those policy choices," he told reporters. "The fact is, is that for most folks, proof of whether they work or not is has the economy gotten back to where it needs to be. And it hasn't." Obama's intentions could not be clearer: The White House will resist Republican demands for a course correction because the president will not concede that he's on the wrong course. Of course, Johnson is just one Republican, and the GOP remains the minority party in the Senate. But there are dozens of other Republican newcomers in the House, soon to be under GOP control, who share his determination to repeal Obamacare. "The health care bill that was enacted by the current Congress will kill jobs in America, ruin the best health care system in the world and bankrupt our country," Speaker-in-waiting John Boehner said Wednesday. "That means we have to do everything we can to try to repeal this bill and replace it with common sense reforms to bring down the cost of health care." The new Republicans won't disagree with Obama on everything. There are sure to be initiatives both the White House and the GOP can support. But when it comes to the big things, the foundation of the Obama legacy, there will be little common ground. Whenever Barack Obama denies that voters are seeking a new direction, look for Ron Johnson and his colleagues to remind him otherwise.
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Previously:
11/01/10 New GOP star on track to defeat Dem legend Russ Feingold
10/26/10 If Dems lose, Obama will blame everyone but himself
10/19/10 Profligate Congress should read its own bills
10/13/10 Why Big Labor couldn't match Glenn Beck's rally
10/11/10 Trash-talking Democrat faces defeat in Florida
10/05/10 A GOP unknown in striking distance of Barney Frank
09/28/10 Administration inflates green-jobs numbers
09/20/10 In Delaware, GOP should target Dems, not O'Donnell
09/14/10 GOP Insiders Wary of Landslide Predictions
08/31/10 For Obamacare supporters, judgment day approaches
08/23/10 Obama has himself to blame for Muslim problem
08/17/10 Cut spending without cutting services? Start here
08/17/10 For Michelle Obama, extravagance dents popularity
08/09/10 Obama's zealous civil rights enforcer gets busy
08/02/10 A battle between Left and Right --- inside the GOP
07/26/10 GOP spoiling for fight over Berwick appointment
07/20/10 How long will the public tolerate Afghan war?
07/12/10 NASA's Muslim outreach: Al Jazeera told first
07/02/10 Legal complaint against Gore is detailed, credible
06/28/10 Obama and Dems heading for electoral disaster
06/21/10 Who told Obama drilling is ‘absolutely safe’?
06/14/10 Billions for ‘green jobs,’ whatever they are
06/07/10 Sestak a no-go for any job. So what was the deal?
05/31/10 As economic worries worsen, White House puts on the glitz
05/25/10 GOP dilemma: Fight Kagan, or go along?
05/11/10 Enforcing nation's immigration laws would be a bargain
05/03/10 How Obama could lose Arizona immigration battle
04/27/10 What's behind the anti-Tea Party hate narrative?
04/20/10 As government expands, beware the post-office example
04/19/10 Who wins in 2010? Good luck reading tea leaves
04/12/10 GOP Obamacare strategy: Try repeal, then cut
04/05/10 Obamacare was mainly aimed at redistributing wealth
03/30/10 Message to Dems: People still don't like Obamacare
03/23/10 The coming consequences of Obamacare
03/16/10 Marco Rubio and the Republicans who love him
03/15/10 GOP hopes town halls take health care off table
03/08/10 Dems turn risky health vote into manhood contest
03/01/10 Why Obama defies the public on health care
02/22/10 South Carolina mulls 2012: Romney? Palin? Huck?
02/16/10 GOP winning war over Miranda rights for terrorists
02/09/10 Who are the 300 terrorists held in U.S. prisons?
02/02/10 Is Obama dissatisfied with being president?
01/19/10 The Republican dilemma: Good Michael or Bad Michael?
01/12/10 Now the lawmakers are figuring out what they didn't know
01/05/10 GOP deserves blame for Democratic excesses
12/29/09 Dems' dreams of a blue West begin to turn red
12/22/09 Why Dems push health care, even if it kills them
11/30/09 Dems' kamikaze mission: Health care by New Year's
11/23/09 Why it's a mistake to bring Gitmo prisoners here
11/16/09 Dems' slick fix: $210 billion of fiscal restraint
11/10/09 Obama can't be community organizer for the world
11/02/09 At key moment, Obama leaves health post unfilled
10/26/09 ‘Fierce urgency' for jobs, not health care’
10/12/09 Facts hurt Jennings in youth sex controversy
10/05/09 Amid terror threat, Dems chip away at Patriot Act
09/27/09 In Afghanistan, let U.S. troops be warriors
09/21/09 Under fire, Democrats abandon ACORN in drove
09/14/09 Dems stifle Republican health care plans
09/08/09 For Dems, a serious Charlie Rangel problem
09/07/09 Obama's speech: Wrong setting for a sales job
09/01/09 What happened to the antiwar movement?
08/24/09 Why Dems may jam through health care plan
08/17/09 GOP thinks the unthinkable: Victory in 2010
08/10/09 The empty words of a journalist turned flack
08/03/09 Probe finds new clues in AmeriCorps IG scandal
07/27/09 Obamacare haunted by unkept promises of stimulus
07/20/09 Why the GOP failed the Sotomayor test
07/13/09 What the GOPers will ask Sotomayor
06/29/09 Serious questions remain for Mark Sanford
06/22/09 How GOPers can crack the AmeriCorps scandal
06/16/09 Worried about Sotomayor? Consider Andre Davis
06/08/09 Can Mitch Daniels save the GOP?
06/01/09 When the Dems derailed a Latino nominee
05/26/09 Why the GOP will defeat Obama on healthcare
05/19/09 Rosy report can't hide stimulus problems
05/12/09 The Reagan legacy is the man himself
05/05/09 Sen. Specter, meet your new friends
04/27/09 Ted Olson: ‘Torture’ probes will never end
04/20/09 Who's Laughing at the ‘Axis of Evil’ today?
04/14/09 Congress needs Google to track stimulus money
04/06/09 Beyond AIG: A bill to let Big Government set your salary
03/30/09 On Spending and the Deficit, McCain Was Right
03/24/09 It's Obama's crisis now
03/17/09: Geithner-Obama economics: A joke that's not funny
© 2009, NEA
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