Thread: The Show Horse President

The Show Horse President

By JOSEPH SHATTAN on 10.8.13 @ 6:08AM
After him, will there be any “work horses” left in our politics?


In a brilliant 1982 memoir of his career with LBJ, George Reedy, a key member of Johnson’s senatorial and presidential staffs, explained Johnson’s philosophy when he dominated the Senate:

He thought of the Senate as a workshop for resolving political, social, and economic problems rather than as an arena of conflict for contrasting ideologies. Therefore, he did not label senators as Democratic and Republican or liberal and conservative but as “work horses” and “show horses” (both pet phrases). He was equally at home with the conservative Republican Everett M. Dirksen and the liberal Democrat John O. Pastore — because both were ‘work horses.’ He was similarly uncomfortable with liberal Republican Jake Javits and conservative Democrat Frank Lausche, because both were “show horses.”

If LBJ were alive today, I think he’d agree that Obama was a show horse in the Senate, and that he remains a show horse in the White House.
Obama had no legislative accomplishments to speak of during his brief Senate career. Rather, he saw the Senate as a platform from which to pursue his presidential ambitions. He relied on the power of his rhetoric — what the Bolsheviks called “agitation and propaganda” — to win him the White House.

Once installed in his Pennsylvania Avenue mansion, Obama has shown no interest in working with Republicans. His basic approach to governing has been to use Democrat majorities in the House and Senate to ram legislation down Republican throats. That, of course, is how he secured his “signature” achievement — Obamacare.

And when he lacks congressional majorities, he tries to do an end-run around Congress, and use Executive Branch agencies like the EPA to enact his agenda. This is how he plans to destroy America’s coal industry.

And when Republicans screw up their courage and put up a fight, he doesn’t try to reach a compromise. On the contrary, he deliberately exacerbates tensions, then uses the ensuing deadlock it to whip up popular hatred of Republicans. That’s how he’s handling the current government shutdown.

Obama-rule is very different from the model of presidential leadership that I studied way back when. I was taught that American presidents used their exalted office to build a national consensus around their policies. Such consensus-building took time, skill, and compromise, but the end result was that every “stakeholder” gained something, no one felt totally excluded, and the legitimacy of the process was universally (albeit grudgingly) acknowledged.

Under Obama-rule, however, there is no presidential consensus-building to speak of. There are only the president and his loyal followers spinning their tales, steamrolling their foes, and leaving huge swaths of the public excluded, embittered, and angry.

Still, Obama-rule has worked (more or less) so far, and if the president completes his second term with his legacy intact, it might well become the standard model of presidential leadership in the 21st century.
Under Obama-rule, the Senate’s primary function will no longer be to legislate. Instead, it will come to be seen mainly as an arena for political show horses to strut their stuff.

Whereas 20th century politicians like Johnson and Dirksen said little or nothing in their speeches, and conducted their most important business huddled behind closed doors, under Obama-rule presidential wannabes will studiously avoid closed doors, and conduct their most important business — speechifying — before as many television cameras as possible. The most effective demagogues will go on to represent their parties in the general elections, and the winner of these elections will work with his or her allies in Congress, the media, and the permanent bureaucracy to demonize the opposition and enact laws that half the country hates.

This is not representative government as Madison, Hamilton, and Jay envisioned it, but it is democracy of a sort. Whether our children or grandchildren are destined to live out their lives under Obama-rule depends in no small part, I think, on how the epic battle over Obamacare ultimately plays out.

http://spectator.org/archives/2013/1...orse-president

News Link • Big Brother Obamacare Faces Union Revolt 10-08-2013 • arclein "If the 'Affordable Care Act' is not fixed, and it destroys the health and welfare funds that we have all fought for and stand for, then I believe it needs to be repealed," emphasized O'Sullivan during a firm rebuke of the crafty and malicious government scheme. "We can't have the unintended consequences for the proud men and women that we represent to be collateral damage in the healthc Read Full Story

Reported by Robert Klein This is the best indication yet that Obamacare as constructed is simply not feasible. I had had serious reservations simply because it was cobbled together as been good for everyone while completely ignoring the inherent costs of the hugely gamed system already in place. The probability of complete collapse has just gone past the fifty percent mark and will likely need major intervention to keep afloat. If that happens, it will be a ruinous end to the Obama presidency and open the door to serious consequences. It may also set back resolution of this problem for a long time to come although the exact opposite could also happen. That would be rather lucky though, but history often rthrows up the right man at the right time. Labor union bosses now freaking out over Obamacare law they pushed for: Full repeal on the way? Wednesday, September 18, 2013 by: Ethan A. Huf http://www.naturalnews.com/042106_la...#ixzz2fUlDTXLC (NaturalNews) Many of the very same union heads who aggressively pushed for its illegal passage are now decrying the tenets of the so-called Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, as they finally wake up to the fact that they were deceitfully sold a bill of goods. The presidents of at least four major American union groups have signed on to calls for the egregious mandate to either be "fixed" or repealed, as it is now apparent that Obamacare in its current form threatens to eliminate the last remaining vestiges of an American middle class. Speaking on behalf of his union's 500,000-or-so members, Laborers' International Union of North America president Terry O'Sullivan, for instance, had many a fuming word to say against Obamacare at the recent 2013 annual convention of the AFL-CIO, a federation of labor organizations that represents 57 unions and more than 12 million workers. During his speech, O'Sullivan lamented that Obamacare will destroy union workers' health insurance plans entirely if not "corrected" according to union terms. "If the 'Affordable Care Act' is not fixed, and it destroys the health and welfare funds that we have all fought for and stand for, then I believe it needs to be repealed," emphasized O'Sullivan during a firm rebuke of the crafty and malicious government scheme. "We can't have the unintended consequences for the proud men and women that we represent to be collateral damage in the healthcare fight in this country." Other union presidents are apparently in agreement, including Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa; United Food and Commercial Workers president Joseph Hansen; and UNITE HERE president D. Taylor. Each of these men signed a joint open letter to Democrat Senators Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, chiding them for breaking their promise to protect union health insurance plans. This comes as the Obama administration denies requests to provide insurance exemptions for union members. "Since the ACA was enacted, we have been bringing our deep concerns to the Administration, seeking reasonable regulatory interpretations to the statute that would help prevent the destruction of non-profit health plans," reads the scathing letter. "When you and the President sought our support for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), you pledged that if we liked the health plans we have now, we could keep them. Sadly, that promise is under threat." Both Republicans and Democrats now wide awake to Obamacare deception The foolishness of trusting Reid, Pelosi and the rest of the traitors in Congress that endorsed Obamacare is finally on display for the world to see. It should have been obvious from the start that Obamacare would not end up being the amazing health care reform that many claimed it would be -- most of Congress admittedly never even read it, as you may recall, insisting that it had to first be passed in order for Congress to learn what it would actually entail. Now, we can plainly see exactly what Obamacare is all about: deceit and lies. And now, the workers unions that set up phone banks and walked precincts to garner support for the unconstitutional nightmare are learning the truth, albeit a day late and a buck short. The silver lining in all this, of course, is that there is now more momentum than ever to see Obamacare completely repealed, which will be beneficial to the interests of everyone, not just union workers. "The very complaints union leaders are bringing to the table now about Obamacare are the same warnings conservatives and businesses gave before the legislation was signed into law in 2010," writes Katie Pavlich for TownHall.com. "Hopefully it won't be long before unions are calling for full repeal." Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/042106_la...#ixzz2fUl5eWPb Posted by arclein at 12:00 AM

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I think the "push is coming to shove" and the American people are not in any mood for the antics of these crooked politicians....They know how the majority of us feel and I don't think they know what to do or which way to go right now...They still want only obedient tax paying sheeple to lord over so only time will tell. I pray that "We the People" can overcome this fiasco they have brought us to.