Temporary loyalty


By Jim Killebrew

[October 17, 2014]  Isn't it interesting the number of democrat Senators who are running for re-election who have turned their back on the President. Their rhetoric for campaigning is to distance themselves as much as possible from their President. One democrat Senator has even refused to admit she voted for the President in the last two Presidential elections. All of their opponents are listing the high percentages of times the democrats have voted with the President for his policies; most of them in the 90+ percentage range. Yet now, they are trying to distance themselves from the President whose approval level has dipped into the mid to high 30 percentage level.

I am not sure which is worse, the fact that the policies that have been enacted across the country, along with the scandals they have produced by the President and his complicit democrat Senators, or the fact that the democrats running for re-election believe the American voter is so stupid as to not be able to see through the ruse of an attempt to back away from their President. Are Americans really that uninformed? I believe not.

Many believe that these democrats are only acting to oppose their allegiance to their Party's President during the run-up to the mid-term election in November. They might be trying to distance themselves from an unpopular President while making promises of their own as they are forced to answer their behavior of voting for the President's agenda during the past six years. As soon as the election is over they will revert back to their allegiance to the Party and the President's desire to enact liberal policies, especially during the lame-duck session that will give them their last chance before vacating their seat. Of course that behavior solidifies what many think is their lack of willingness to represent those who elected them in the first place in favor of feathering their own nest. This behavior goes directly to their integrity, or lack thereof.
 

They are slashing their credibility by their actions. It is generally believed at this point many of those folks will not be re-elected. Of course, that has, in part, been for the stand they took while they were in office and people realized they were part of the problem of the economy, the NSA issue, the IRS issue, the cover-ups with Fast and Furious, Benghazi, and a host of other scandals they have helped stonewall in the investigations. Going back all the way to the first two years when the President had majorities of both Houses of Congress when all the democrats passed the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, without a single vote from the republicans. Of course they will turn coat and go back to their natural ways of operating. In fact, we need to watch closely that lame-duck Congress after the election. Those who lost will be emboldened to slip in some of the policies and regulations in the form of laws before they vacate their offices. Additionally, the President will feel emboldened to use his pen and phone to write a barrage of Executive Orders to circumvent Congress.

Some believe that if the President tries to enact executive legislation thorough those means it might bring the Congress to a decision of impeachment. That is unlikely, however. Impeachment may be desirable by the opposition, but it is toxic to actually go through it. Remember the impact that had on the republicans during the Clinton administration. Additionally, remember who would become the President after impeachment. Beyond that, there is still a great number of people who support the President and their hatred toward the republicans would likely have significant negative consequences for the republicans in the 2016 election. An impeachment of Obama would almost ensure a Hillary Clinton Presidency. The only exception to that is if Obama absolutely, clearly stomps on the Constitution so severely that it scares a number of democrats into supporting impeachment during the process and afterward. Of course that is unlikely since memories of both politicians and voters seem to wane as the actual election date gets closer. By the time each of the political parties make their choices about 2016 candidates, most of the democrats will believe their involvement in an impeachment of their own President would be counted as ancient history.

One needs to consider the reasoning of these democrats running from the President and his policies they helped support while in their roles as elected officials outside of the political sphere. If the republicans win the control of both Houses of Congress, it means the American people have voted a "no confidence" vote for the President and those who supported his policies and regulations. Therefore, to be a legitimate lawmaker with an actual intent to represent the will of the American citizen on the side of solving some of the scandals of this Administration that have been left hanging up to the time of the election while there has been obvious efforts to extensively cover-up the truth, one has to wonder if anyone running for re-election while turning away from their own achievements during their tenure in office deserves to be re-elected in the first place.

The democrats running from the President in this mid-term election is of course nothing but a political maneuver to help them win their personal re-elections. A reality that once again stamps out the presence of principle and boldly underlines form over substance. Is it any wonder America is experiencing a morality drift?

[By JIM KILLEBREW]