Voices in the President's head


By Jim Killebrew

[November 10, 2014]  In remarks from the East Room on November 5, 2014, a day after the election, the President stated, "Obviously, Republicans had a good night, and they deserve credit for running good campaigns. Beyond that, I’ll leave it to all of you [media] and the professional pundits to pick through yesterday’s results. What stands out to me, though, is that the American people sent a message, one that they’ve sent for several elections now. They expect the people they elect to work as hard as they do. They expect us to focus on their ambitions and not ours. They want us to get the job done."

"All of us, in both parties, have a responsibility to address that sentiment. Still, as President, I have a unique responsibility to try and make this town work. So, to everyone who voted, I want you to know that I hear you. To the two-thirds of voters who chose not to participate in the process yesterday, I hear you, too."

Looking for meanings and motives from people who practice silence is a chase for the foolhardy. Especially in the face of an overwhelming statement from those who did speak. To try to ascribe a meaning that is exactly the opposite from those who did not speak with those statements from the loudest voices is a contradiction of thought that causes a dissonance of the mind that creates a gigantic headache. When the President opens his eyes to the results of an election climate that handed him the searing rebuke of this Administration, but closes his ears of understanding choosing instead to cherry-pick the meanings he wants from those who did not participate in the election, simply gives him something in common with the Ostrich on a sandy beach.
 

When one takes a close look at these statements for trying to find the meaning behind the surface words, it is not too difficult to conclude the President is drawing a domestic red line in the sand, this one he is willing to hold firm. He is telling the republicans that he will not tolerate the new republican control of both the House and the Senate to stand in the way of his plans to enact some of the social issues he wants, especially in the area of immigration.

Speaking recently on the CBS news program, "Face the Nation," the President stated he intends to use his power to make it easier for illegal immigrants to avoid deportation. The President has indicated he will act with Executive Orders even in the face of the newly elected republican majority in the House and Senate. The President is vowing to enact these Executive Orders to grant legalization to illegal immigrants, or at least dampen the rate of deportation of various elements of the illegal population. Both the incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, the House Speaker have warned the President against issuing his Executive Orders prior to the new Congress meeting.

Armed with his own ideas of what the "two-thirds" of the American voters who did not vote are giving him permission to do, the President is moving forward with his obstructionist activities. He said, "As President, I have a unique responsibility to make this town [Washington, DC] work." With that attitude and defiance of the Constitutional authority, the President is poised to ignite a Constitutional crisis as he moves forward in trying to legislate from the Executive Office.

The conventional thought prior to the election on Tuesday was there was going to be a backlash against "incumbency" where many people in power already would lose their seats. The fact that evolved on election day resulted in the democrats being driven from their seats, while republicans saw victories. Regardless of what the President thinks the "two-thirds" of non-participant voters might have meant by sitting out the election, the result was a change of power in the Senate from democrat to republican. Harry Reid will vacate his leadership role, the House not only held its republican strength, but increased it. Governors in the republican party remains the majority in the State's leadership. And the American people who did vote made a statement that even the President cannot ignore ultimately.

Right now the country is once again at a crossroad for her future. The people have definitely spoken and are expecting the republicans to remain resolved enough to carry that mandate through. The republicans need to keep their eye on the ball and keep their attention on the mandates that are at hand, but at the same time casting a cautious glance toward the next election cycle as well; 2016 is closer than we think.

[By JIM KILLEBREW]