Every so often, I like to read articles like the one by Paul Waldman at The American Prospect, so that I can keep tabs on current liberal thinking. (I know, liberal thinking is an oxymoron -- save me the email.) Today, it seems, Waldman is thrilling his readers with the news that the recent Supreme Court decisions striking down various actions by president Obama happened because "when Republicans made it impossible for the president to run the government, he found ways around their obstruction." Waldman focuses on the recent case regarding illegal recess appointments by Obama. He points out that those recess appointments were needed because Republicans were preventing the Senate from actually going into recess (when a recess appointment would be proper). Instead, the Republicans were using pro forma sessions to keep the Senate in operation. (These pro forma sessions consisted of a senator calling the chamber into session and then adjourning every three days.) These same Republicans were also preventing the Senate from approving Obama's nominees. Even worse, the Republicans were constantly obstructing Obama's domestic programs.
It is often said that "facts are stubborn things." So let's look at the facts.
Fact number 1: the Senate has been controlled by the Democrats at all times that Obama has been in office. The Republicans have never had the ability to get a majority of senators to vote against a recess unless there were a significant number of Democrats (currently six) joining with them. If the Senate was not in recess (that heinous act that Waldman denounces), it was because the Democrats did not vote for such a recess.
Fact number 2: the use of pro forma sessions to keep the Senate from recess was developed by the Democrats in 2007 and 2008, for the purpose of keeping George W. Bush from making any recess appointments. That's right, the tactic that Waldman denounces as some horrible construct of the Republicans was actually created and used by the Democrats a few years earlier.
Fact number 3: as noted above, the Senate has been controlled by the Democrats at all times. That means that the Democrats were the ones who could approve Obama's nominees all by themselves. But let's take it one step further and look at just how many of Obama's nominations were left without Senate votes. During Obama's five and a half years in office, there have been only five nominees (out of thousands) who had their nominations blocked. That hardly sounds like obstruction.
Fact number 4: let's focus on the Republican obstruction of Obama's domestic programs. Ask yourself this--what domestic program was it that the GOP blocked? Obama got Obamacare -- and we know how that turned out. Obama got Dodd-Frank -- and we know how that one did too. Obama failed to gain approval for cap and trade, his climate change bill. That failure occurred, however, at a point when the Senate was 60 Democrats and only 40 Republicans. The 60 Democrats and their leader Harry Reid would not even vote on the bill, because it was going to lose and they did not want to embarrass Obama. In other words, it was Democrats who blocked Obama on that one, not Republicans. Indeed, we know that there were Republicans (like McCain and Collins) in the Senate who supported Obama's position, so the number of Democrats opposed was quite high. Obama wanted higher taxes on the rich, and he got higher taxes on the rich. Obama wanted to bring back the estate tax and he got just that. Obama wanted higher spending by the federal government, and spending has been at record levels throughout his term in office. The only place where Obama has not gotten his way has been with regard to immigration, and that is still a work in progress, with the Senate (including many Republicans) voting for a bill. So we ask again, what program of Obama's was obstructed? Surely Waldman is not referring to problems in 2014 in passing an immigration bill as the reason why Obama made bogus recess appointments two plus years earlier.
The truth is that there is no domestic program offered by Obama. There has been no program for the last four years at least.
All of this leaves me wondering. What would the liberals say if they recognized reality? How can you base your worldview on Republican obstructionism if it does not exist? If we tell them all that, will they have a breakdown?
It is often said that "facts are stubborn things." So let's look at the facts.
Fact number 1: the Senate has been controlled by the Democrats at all times that Obama has been in office. The Republicans have never had the ability to get a majority of senators to vote against a recess unless there were a significant number of Democrats (currently six) joining with them. If the Senate was not in recess (that heinous act that Waldman denounces), it was because the Democrats did not vote for such a recess.
Fact number 2: the use of pro forma sessions to keep the Senate from recess was developed by the Democrats in 2007 and 2008, for the purpose of keeping George W. Bush from making any recess appointments. That's right, the tactic that Waldman denounces as some horrible construct of the Republicans was actually created and used by the Democrats a few years earlier.
Fact number 3: as noted above, the Senate has been controlled by the Democrats at all times. That means that the Democrats were the ones who could approve Obama's nominees all by themselves. But let's take it one step further and look at just how many of Obama's nominations were left without Senate votes. During Obama's five and a half years in office, there have been only five nominees (out of thousands) who had their nominations blocked. That hardly sounds like obstruction.
Fact number 4: let's focus on the Republican obstruction of Obama's domestic programs. Ask yourself this--what domestic program was it that the GOP blocked? Obama got Obamacare -- and we know how that turned out. Obama got Dodd-Frank -- and we know how that one did too. Obama failed to gain approval for cap and trade, his climate change bill. That failure occurred, however, at a point when the Senate was 60 Democrats and only 40 Republicans. The 60 Democrats and their leader Harry Reid would not even vote on the bill, because it was going to lose and they did not want to embarrass Obama. In other words, it was Democrats who blocked Obama on that one, not Republicans. Indeed, we know that there were Republicans (like McCain and Collins) in the Senate who supported Obama's position, so the number of Democrats opposed was quite high. Obama wanted higher taxes on the rich, and he got higher taxes on the rich. Obama wanted to bring back the estate tax and he got just that. Obama wanted higher spending by the federal government, and spending has been at record levels throughout his term in office. The only place where Obama has not gotten his way has been with regard to immigration, and that is still a work in progress, with the Senate (including many Republicans) voting for a bill. So we ask again, what program of Obama's was obstructed? Surely Waldman is not referring to problems in 2014 in passing an immigration bill as the reason why Obama made bogus recess appointments two plus years earlier.
The truth is that there is no domestic program offered by Obama. There has been no program for the last four years at least.
All of this leaves me wondering. What would the liberals say if they recognized reality? How can you base your worldview on Republican obstructionism if it does not exist? If we tell them all that, will they have a breakdown?
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