The New York Times notices that the president has been forced to resort to unilateral executive action to get things done because Congress is broken. The Times even noticed something else:
For their part, Republicans appear to have largely acquiesced. Mr. [Chuck] Grassley said in an interview that his colleagues were reluctant to block even more bills and nominations in response to Mr. Obama’s “chutzpah,” lest they play into his effort to portray them as making Congress dysfunctional.
“Some of the most conservative people in our caucus would adamantly disagree with what Obama did on recess appointments, but they said it’s not a winner for us,” he said.
It’s funny how it’s almost a universal truth that you can get a bully to back down if only you will stand up to him. The pace of judicial confirmations has picked up substantially since the Republican landslide in 2010. The Republicans complain about everything, but they’re not doing anything substantial about the president’s new focus on using the executive branch to bypass Congress. Yes, they are sending an amicus brief to a case that challenges Obama’s recess appointments, but their heart isn’t in it.
On some level I think they recognize the president has to act. If he can’t get Congress to do anything, he must find another way. To insist otherwise is to insist on a completely impotent president.
“To insist on a completely impotent president” is what they’ve been trying to do since the inauguration. McConnell was public about the intent to make Obama a one-term president and to say NO to everything. If, as you say, “on some level. . . they recognize the president has to act, and that he “must find another way” if “he can’t get Congress to do anything,” why not negotiate in good faith and get some of what you want and some credit for the passing of a bill?
Here’s an alternative theory: they initially laid off after 2010 because they believed they’d have the White House after 2012. When Duyba claimed vastly expanded Executive Branch powers, the Dems raised holy hell.
But now Obama is (in this as in his civil liberties policies) making the excesses of Bush a bipartisan practice. the R’s calculated that if they had the White House, both houses of Congress, and the Supreme Court in 2013, they could do whatever they wanted; but if they were missing one of those pieces other than the WH, they could go back to the unitary presidency with the claim that “Obama did it, too.”
Now that the WH looks less likely, election year positioning (especially for congressional races) dictates that they not resume protesting just yet. But wait until 2013.
Remember, the Senate GOP just joined the Noel Cannery v NLRB court case specifically to challenge the constitutionality of Obama’s recess appointments. They’re positioning themselves. IMO this lull will be over on November 7.
I don’t see how you can claim that Obama’ executive actions are excessive.
The executive actions discussed in this article, that is – the executive orders, regulations, and recess appointments.
At what point does the Congress become as useless as the Roman Senate in the final days of the Republic, and what happens then?
Booman Tribune ~ Comments ~ What Other Choice Does He Have?
Is an impotent Obama not their wet dream, and, since Reagan, isn’t a much less powerful and effective Government also what they want?
The current pragmatism is based purely on electoral considerations – a dysfunctional congress isn’t a great record to defend your majority on
Some day, the penny will drop that a weak Government also means a weak USA. But let’s not give the GOP too much credit for prescience and planning.
This is gut level hatred for Obama, the Guvment, and anything they can’t buy and sell at a profit.
That’s the NeoConfederates for you – if they can’t fleece it, fry it, frack it, or fuck it, they’re not interested.
I’m still leaning towards the idea that what we saw on MSM public was just the tip of the iceberg. The GOP has been swayed by every political candy bar of instant gratification for over a decade. Their sugar highs crash everytime and it’s a relief to see Obama decide to power forward. I’m surprised the infighting hasn’t blown the doors off Mitt’s “Quiet Rooms”.
Here’s hoping Obama’s Irish heritage grants him some more good luck.
I could give a pig arse about anything the NYT has time to write after the BS from the Public Editor this weekend. Is the article you mentioned, just a part of their new plan to “vet” Obama?
“NYT Pub Ed: Is Obama Manchurian Candidate?”
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/04/nyt_pub_ed_is_obama_manchurian_candidate.php?ref=fpblg