"2 Steps Forward, or 2 Steps Back: How Can Opposites Attract?"
Before I get started on this article, I thought it was would be nice to start off with a little song......
........Check out this video first, and then read the rest of the blog afterwards.......or listen while you read! :-)
I am sure that was a trip down memory lane for some of you. And if you are like me, you remember the actual video with Paula Abdul and the "Cool Cat" who apparently had nothing in common. But somehow, a cartoon character and a human being could find a way to get together in a way that I am still trying to figure out how it worked. That song came out in 1988, when Ronald Reagan was in the White House and the Democrats controlled the entire Congress. A Republican and a bunch of rowdy Dems that somehow had to find a way to pass bills and run the country, without tearing their respective parties apart......somehow found a way to pass bills and run the country without tearing their respective parties apart.
Now let's flash forward to 2014. We have Obama in the White House, and soon, we will have the GOP in full control of Congress. This sounds like a reciepe for a complete disaster. These guys have never agreed on ANYTHING....for 6 YEARS! What makes us think that these guys will actually get something down now? How WILL opposites attract?
The question is not WILL they get along.....the question is, CAN they? The answer........is yes.
They actually will HAVE to get along this time around, even though Speaker John Boehner said otherwise in his press conference on Thursday. Today, the President will be meeting with all the top leaders of Congress at the White House....including the newly crowned Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Harry Reid (who in my opinion, was rather weak anyways). This is supposed to be the beginning of a new chapter in Washington DC, where they all have vowed to start working again to pass bills and run the country a lot smoother. What remains to be seen, is whether or not they mean what they say.
The one thing the GOP knows right now is that they must get their agenda passed and on Obama's desk to sign to please their base.....whether or not he actually signs them is the one thing that everyone will be wondering for the next 2 years. The one thing Obama knows right now is that he must get immigration reform done to please HIS base......whether or not the GOP will pass a bill or not will be something everyone will be wondering for the next 2 months. The GOP must do something about immigration....they HAVE to. They know that the future of the party is at stake, especially for the 2016 election cycle. The same is true for the Democrats, because Obama has to fulfill his promise to the Latino community and act on his own if Congress doesn't. He has threatened many times to use Executive orders if they don't do anything, but has delayed that threat many times as well. And that was because the members of his own base.......you know the ones who just got destroyed on Tuesday, said they didn't want that to be an issue while they were running for office. They thought it would hurt their chances, because the GOP were ready to jump on them if he did. So he made the decision to wait until after the midterms to do anything......but he may have waited too late.
Or did he?
This is where I start become a little more forward thinking and try to get inside the minds of Washington DC. My guess here, is that Obama was probably ready for this outcome, and he wanted to see what the future makeup of Congress would be before he acted. It's plausible that If he would have done it before the election, the outcomes would have been different. But rather than take any risks, he punted the football down the road and waited to see if the Dems would remain in control of the Senate. Now that he knows what lies ahead, he can take a shot at getting it done during this lame duck period before January. If the GOP doesn't agree to anything during this meeting today with the President......expect executive action.
But if opposites CAN attract and these guys CAN work together to get things done......
......then good for them!
........Check out this video first, and then read the rest of the blog afterwards.......or listen while you read! :-)
Click to viewI am sure that was a trip down memory lane for some of you. And if you are like me, you remember the actual video with Paula Abdul and the "Cool Cat" who apparently had nothing in common. But somehow, a cartoon character and a human being could find a way to get together in a way that I am still trying to figure out how it worked. That song came out in 1988, when Ronald Reagan was in the White House and the Democrats controlled the entire Congress. A Republican and a bunch of rowdy Dems that somehow had to find a way to pass bills and run the country, without tearing their respective parties apart......somehow found a way to pass bills and run the country without tearing their respective parties apart.
Now let's flash forward to 2014. We have Obama in the White House, and soon, we will have the GOP in full control of Congress. This sounds like a reciepe for a complete disaster. These guys have never agreed on ANYTHING....for 6 YEARS! What makes us think that these guys will actually get something down now? How WILL opposites attract?
The question is not WILL they get along.....the question is, CAN they? The answer........is yes.
They actually will HAVE to get along this time around, even though Speaker John Boehner said otherwise in his press conference on Thursday. Today, the President will be meeting with all the top leaders of Congress at the White House....including the newly crowned Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Harry Reid (who in my opinion, was rather weak anyways). This is supposed to be the beginning of a new chapter in Washington DC, where they all have vowed to start working again to pass bills and run the country a lot smoother. What remains to be seen, is whether or not they mean what they say.
The one thing the GOP knows right now is that they must get their agenda passed and on Obama's desk to sign to please their base.....whether or not he actually signs them is the one thing that everyone will be wondering for the next 2 years. The one thing Obama knows right now is that he must get immigration reform done to please HIS base......whether or not the GOP will pass a bill or not will be something everyone will be wondering for the next 2 months. The GOP must do something about immigration....they HAVE to. They know that the future of the party is at stake, especially for the 2016 election cycle. The same is true for the Democrats, because Obama has to fulfill his promise to the Latino community and act on his own if Congress doesn't. He has threatened many times to use Executive orders if they don't do anything, but has delayed that threat many times as well. And that was because the members of his own base.......you know the ones who just got destroyed on Tuesday, said they didn't want that to be an issue while they were running for office. They thought it would hurt their chances, because the GOP were ready to jump on them if he did. So he made the decision to wait until after the midterms to do anything......but he may have waited too late.
Or did he?
This is where I start become a little more forward thinking and try to get inside the minds of Washington DC. My guess here, is that Obama was probably ready for this outcome, and he wanted to see what the future makeup of Congress would be before he acted. It's plausible that If he would have done it before the election, the outcomes would have been different. But rather than take any risks, he punted the football down the road and waited to see if the Dems would remain in control of the Senate. Now that he knows what lies ahead, he can take a shot at getting it done during this lame duck period before January. If the GOP doesn't agree to anything during this meeting today with the President......expect executive action.
But if opposites CAN attract and these guys CAN work together to get things done......
......then good for them!