(5) The coming budget conference committee is long overdue. Obama bemoans the exhausting governance-by-crisis loop in which Washington has become stuck. This frustrating pattern is primarily Democrats fault. They intentionally chose not to even attempt to pass a budget for more than three years, as part of a political strategy. Once they finally passed one (Republicans forced them to by threatening Congressional pay if a budget were not produced), it was predictably awful. It would raise taxes by more than $1 trillion, achieve almost no meaningful reforms, and never, ever balance -- exactly like the presidents version. As bad as it was, however, it doesnt excuse Republicans declining to go to conference under regular order -- which theyd correctly been demanding for years. That was cynical and wrong. At last, the normal conference process will occur, with both sides trying to reconcile differences between two very different blueprints. One more point: Obama is fond of saying that hes cut the deficit in half. What he never mentions is that he ran four-straight trillion-dollar-plus deficits. This year -- thanks in large part to mandatory spending reductions Republicans forced in previous negotiations -- the United States will only spend between $650 and $759 billion more than it takes in. President Bush added over $4 trillion to the national debt over eight years; Obamas already in the neighborhood of $6 trillion. He has zero credibility on deficits and debt. (6) Republicans must not take Obamas bait on immigration reform. Im in favor of reform, even though I opposed the Senate bill the president touted today. Its an important issue that must be dealt with equitably and fairly. But Obama is trying to drag a new shiny object into the spotlight to deflect attention from his big Obamacare problem. The way forward on immigration reform is divisive within the GOP, and Obama knows this. Resist the temptation to go there right now. The messaging isnt hard: This is a crucial issue that affects millions of people across the country, and were committed to fixing our broken immigration system in a bipartisan manner. But taking up another giant, comprehensive Washington so-called solution while the presidents last giant comprehensive Washington solution on healthcare is collapsing before our eyes would be irresponsible. We will not rush through another massive, incomprehensible bill. In this case, a punt is acceptable. Eye on the ball.
Posted on: Thu, 17 Oct 2013 23:00:30 +0000