So what is going to happen if President Obama wins re-election on Tuesday? First, unless there is a total surprise, even if the President is re-elected, the House is still going to be Republicans, and even if the Republicans don’t take control of the Senate, they will have enough Senators that breaking a filibuster is going to be hard.
President Obama has said that he thinks Republicans will work with him in a second term. I have already stated my view on that question. It is probable that President Obama and Congress will come up with something to deal with the upcoming “fiscal cliff”. But beyond that, my guess as to what will pass the next Congress is about zilch. So will a re-elected President do? Is he going to accept the fact that he can’t anything through Congress and merely do his best administering the things he already got passed?
Or is he going to lambast the Republicans for obstructionism and then use every maneuver he (or anybody else) can think of to implement his policies through the bureaucracy, regulations, courts and any other way, even though Congress won’t pass them? I have already talked about how President Obama has done some of this in the last two years (“Barack Obama Doesn’t Seem to Like Democracy”). I think we would see a lot more of it in a second Obama term.
Respect for proper procedures, the Constitution, checks and balances, etc., would all be out the window as President Obama does what he “knows” is “good for the American people.” I am not looking forward to it.
Comments