Congressman Richard Hudson had quite a bit of experience in Washington, D.C., even prior to being elected to represent Robeson County. During his first campaign, he made an interesting observation that many missed.
Rep. Hudson argued on the campaign trail that his experience in Washington would work to his advantage as congressman because he wouldn’t be intimidated when Speaker John Boehner lit a cigarette and leaned toward him trying to influence his votes, suggesting Boehner could intimate someone new to Washington. He made that statement here in Robeson and it was prophetic of things that have recently transpired. Hudson knew what he was talking about.
In 2010, conservatives launched a national campaign that replaced 68 Democrats with Republicans in the House. They elected Boehner as speaker, a position that is third in line to the presidency. Boehner then attempted to marginalize the leadership, assigning them to meaningless committees,cutting some seniority and basically telling House members they were there to only vote. They were not to propose anything and to just stay in line.
Boehner would then follow a pattern with every piece of legislation. He’d convene a vote on a bill in the House, which would pass. Then it would go to the Democrat-controlled Senate, which would do nothing. When it came back to him, he would then cave toward President Obama, throwing up his hands in defeat. Boehner failed to understand how to build coalitions with Democrats or work with his own leadership to get what he wanted done.
For example, the Affordable Care Act heavily taxed what it called Cadillac health plans that provided coverage above government set thresholds. Unions and the National Education Association both opposed this part of the ACA as many of their plans fell into this definition.
Boehner could have partnered with Democrats and written a bill just addressing this part of the ACA. There are other examples of opportunities but Boehner would just give up. He failed to be creative and build coalitions that President Obama couldn’t break. Newt Gingrich would have done things differently.
With Boehner’s departure, there was a scramble last week to elect a new speaker to fix the leadership. What actually occurred were many conservative congressmen expressed that they would not support the establishment pick of Rep. Kevin McCarthy. This was a problem.
To elect a speaker, you not only must have a majority of your party, you must also have a majority of the House. Which means Republicans must agree because the Democrats are going to vote for Pelosi. That’s why McCarthy stepped down and the vote was delayed. They don’t reveal that in the news but it’s that simple. But there is no disaster as the media pretends.
Rep. Paul Ryan is the next name to watch. He may be one that can unite House Republicans. Though he disagrees on many of the social issues, he isn’t going to deadlock the House over them. He is also probably more fiscally conservative on budget issues though, which would be his focus and expertise. He would represent the party and not raise a white flag every time.
A strong speaker is needed and the attention will then swing back to a failing Hillary Clinton campaign. Regardless of how bad things get for President Obama, he can count on four key demographics according to pollsters — African Americans, Latinos, voters under 30 and single white women. These demographics constitute 40 percent of the general electorate and 50 percent of the Democratic primary electorate. It’s the support of this electorate that has held President Obama up as he can count on 68 percent support from those groups collectively while a recent study revealed that Hillary Clinton only gets 46 percent. Her national approval is 41 percent, meaning these groups are only slightly more in favor of her than the general electorate.
The bottom line is Democratic presidential candidates have weak numbers and a new House speaker will revitalize Republicans.
