A move to the political center?

Viewspoints

Related Photos

Ronnie Ellis

November 10, 2012

A move to the political center?

By Ronnie Ellis CNHI News Service The Richmond Register Sat Nov 10, 2012, 12:15 AM EST

FRANKFORT — FRANKFORT — If Mitch McConnell includes a chapter about the past four years in his memoirs, he should entitle it “The Audacity of NOPE!”

“No” was the starting position of the Senate Republicans McConnell in every negotiation with President Barack Obama. McConnell famously said his number one priority was to ensure “Barack Obama is a one-term president.”

Less noticed was a Sept. 3 Time Magazine article by Michael Grunwald, “The Party of No.” Here’s an excerpt:

“Obama promised post-partisanship, and Republicans could turn him into a promise breaker by withholding their support. Or as Ohio’s Sen. George Voinovich summarized the strategy: ‘If Obama was for it, we had to be against it.’”

I asked McConnell if the article is accurate.

“Well, George can speak for himself but, as I recall, he supported our position on every major issue,” McConnell responded.

Sounds like “yes” to me.

On Tuesday, McConnell and the rest of us learned his strategy didn’t work. Obama was re-elected and a Senate which everyone assumed was poised to change hands saw Democrats add two seats to their majority — again denying McConnell his ultimate goal of becoming majority leader.

Here is McConnell’s reaction:

“To the extent (Obama) wants to move to the political center, which is where the work gets done in a divided government, we’ll be there to meet him halfway.”

Given his record over the last four years, that’s an audacious statement. Whether or not you like Obama and his policies — and clearly most Kentuckians don’t — here is the president’s record.

He offered $2.50 of spending cuts for every $1 of new taxes. He deliberately chose a Republican model for health-care reform (the mandate was originally proposed by The Heritage Foundation and then implemented by a certain Republican governor of Massachusetts), hoping to secure bi-partisan support. He crafted his stimulus plan so one-third of it was in the form of tax cuts — hoping to secure Republican support.

He didn’t get any.

When Obama got “shellacked” in the 2010 mid-term elections, he did something presidents just don’t do. Chastened, he went to Capitol Hill to meet with opposition House Republicans. His party’s congressional leaders weren’t happy, but Obama said he’d learned the lesson of the election and wanted to work across the aisle.

One problem — arriving on Capitol Hill, Obama was handed a copy of an email from Speaker John Boehner to his conference saying in advance Republicans would not agree to anything Obama proposed. Obama went ahead with the meeting.

Republicans’ and McConnell’s line in the sand is no higher tax rates for the wealthy (who enjoy the lowest tax rates in more than half a century).

If McConnell wants to find the political center he should look at Tuesday’s election results.

Obama was correctly criticized for not laying out a specific plan for the next four years, but on one thing he was absolutely clear. In every campaign speech, in all three debates, and in television ads, Obama unequivocally stated his position of “asking the wealthy to pay a little more” while at the same time lowering corporate taxes. His opponent said he’d lower taxes on the wealthy.

Obama won a small but convincing majority in the popular vote. That’s fairly amazing for an African-American president facing a slow recovery from a near-depression and four years of efforts by critics to de-legitimize him and his first election.

Exit polls indicate 60 percent of voters — all voters, not just those who voted for Democrats — favor higher taxes for the wealthy. That means a lot of Republicans prefer Obama’s position to McConnell’s.

Sound a bit like the political center?

Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cnhifrankfort.

Text Only

Viewspoints

Slower rise in health care spending is a big deal
The sky isn't falling. The train is not wrecking. The end is not nigh. And to drag this out a bit, the tidings are not all bad.
The Social Security and Medicare trustees have spoken in their latest annual report: Social Security's not-too-serious condition remains unchanged from last year. But the outlook for Medicare, the more shaky program, has brightened modestly.

June 4, 2013 1 Photo
Permission sometimes easier to get than forgiveness
Forgiveness is easier to get than permission, an old adage holds. But that’s not always the case.
In local government, however, it’s usually better to let everyone know what you’re doing and offer a convincing justification before taking action.

June 1, 2013 1 Photo
CENTRAL KENTUCKY SHINES IN GLOBAL DEMILITARIZATION EFFORT
Too often, news is made when things go wrong. TV, print and radio and the internet are filled with worrisome headlines about international terror and wars, making it easy to feel confused, overwhelmed and helpless. But recently, Central Kentucky witnessed a positive development of which it can be proud: the attention from international disarmament leaders to our efforts to destroy lethal chemical weapons at the Blue Grass Army Depot.

June 1, 2013 1 Photo
Squawking about pension reform doesn’t make it so
Recently, I was a panelist on KET’s “Kentucky Tonight” program about the commonwealth’s public-pension crisis.
Much of the discussion reminded me of an annoying rhetorical tactic generally reserved for parrots, but often employed by cheerleaders for bigger, more -costly government: repeating the same nonsense over and over until viewers cave to the pure monotony.

June 1, 2013 1 Photo
Americans deserve the IRS
Individually, Americans do not deserve to be subservient to such a fear-mongering, intimidating and powerful agency as the Internal Revenue Service; but collectively, we do. Let's look at it.
Since the 1791 ratification of our Constitution, until well into the 1920s, federal spending as a percentage of gross domestic product never exceeded 5 percent, except during war. Today federal spending is 25 percent of our GDP. State and local government spending is about 15 percent of the GDP. That means government spends more than 40 cents of each dollar we earn. If we add government's regulatory burden, which is simply a disguised form of taxation, the government take is more than 50 percent of what we produce.

May 29, 2013 1 Photo
Graduation Day
It is that time of year again.
Some years ago, I was invited to speak at the graduation ceremonies of a liberal arts college. Later, many in the audience told me they expected a very political speech. Some of them were relieved; others were disappointed. I don't do politics at graduation.
Graduation is about life.
My high school graduation was OK. I gave a speech. My family was there, intact, probably as happy as they ever were (But did I know?). We went out for Chinese food afterward.

May 22, 2013 1 Photo
Coal problem worth tackling in Washington and Frankfort
Despite hysterical cries from radical environmentalists, neither Sen. Rand Paul’s Defense of Environment and Property Act nor Sen. Mitch McConnell’s Coal Jobs Protection Act would allow activities that bring harm to Kentucky’s wildlife or waterways for the sake of propping up the coal industry.

May 18, 2013 1 Photo
Peter Perlman — Life lessons from a lawyer’s lawyer
One of the great moments of my life was sitting next to legendary Louisville attorney Frank Haddad at a luncheon when he learned he had received the first Peter Perlman Outstanding Trial Lawyer award from the Kentucky Academy of Trial Lawyers.
As they started his bio, the surprised Frank started crying like a baby. A sudden heart attack took him less than a year later. Winning the Perlman award was the crowning achievement of his career.

May 18, 2013 1 Photo
Credit score insanity
Frequently, people stop me and ask me personal finance questions.
The most common is how to improve their credit history score.
If you need to improve your credit score, it means you have lousy credit. Before fixing the score, people need to ask how their credit got so bad to begin with.

May 18, 2013 1 Photo
‘Tells’ about who will blow their money
Kentucky Derby week is one where gambling takes a forefront in my life. Along with the non-stop activities in my home state, I am speaking at a dinner for the Society of Settlement Professionals in Las Vegas and a film crew from Italy is flying in from Rome to interview me for a documentary about lottery winners.

May 18, 2013 1 Photo
More Viewspoints Headlines

Viewspoints

Search Results

Related Photos

A move to the political center?

How should Madison County Schools fund nursing services for students at school?

Site Map