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Will “Centrist” Obama
Win?
By Dick Morris & Eileen McGann
January 21, 2011
On this, the second anniversary of his inauguration, President Obama is
clearly showing a determination to change his image, replacing his hard
left dogmatism with a seeming flexibility and openness to the views of
the center. Will it work? Will it lead to his
re-election? Are we only one-quarter of the way through a two
term Obama presidency?
If the Republican Party wimp out and embraces a moderate agenda, trying
to meet him in the middle, Obama will succeed and will be with us for
six more years. But if the GOP defines itself in stark contrasts
and pushes conservative policies, we will beat him. The key is to
test Obama’s centrism by confronting him with bold demands to rollback
health reform, undo his massive spending, deregulate community banks,
enable state bankruptcies, and block pending executive orders to impose
carbon taxes, card check unionization, and FCC regulation of talk radio
and the Internet.
We have got to make the gentile and lulling waves of Obama’s new-found
moderation crash up against the rocks of Republican demands. Then
the leftist rib tide that lurks underneath the seemingly calm waters
will be exposed and, in the ensuing surf, he will flounder.
Obama’s moderation is only tone deep. Its hallmarks have been the
Daily appointment, his Tucson speech, his sham efforts at deregulation,
and his forced acceptance of the Bush tax cuts. Now let’s see
what he does with health care repeal, spending cuts, and the rest of
the Republican agenda.
The Republican Study Committee proposal calling for $2.5 trillion in
spending cuts over ten years is a great place to start. The GOP
should take the key elements of it and tack them on to the debt limit
increase bill and demand that Obama either sign the bill with the cuts
or get no rise in the debt limit. As Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa)
suggested in a recent op-ed, the government can function without
borrowing more for a few months. And during that time, let all of
America debate whether or not to cut the budget. Let Obama be on
display - day after day - pleading for more spending and
borrowing. What will become of his centrism then?
The Study Committee proposal is especially brilliant in its avoidance
of any cuts in Social Security and Medicare. Republicans
squandered their momentum from Bush’s re-election in 2005 by pushing
Social Security reform and won in 2010 by fighting Medicare cuts.
To cut or “reform” either program right now would be a disaster.
But when it comes to EPA, the Department of Education, Amtrak, the
federal workforce, highway construction, public works, stimulus
spending, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other non-defense discretionary
spending - cut away!
The key to winning the election of 2012 is to force Obama to defend his
agenda of 2009-2010 by demanding its repeal and rollback.
Republicans need to make him spend 2011 and 2012 defending the programs
that brought him down in 2010. And we must also enact budget
riders blocking his attempts to jam through by executive orders (even
as he postures about cutting federal regulation) carbon taxation, FCC
regulation of talk radio, and card check unionization. These
issues are all winners.
Obama hopes we forget his past liberalism. After all, in 1996,
who remembered Hillarycare? Who voted against Clinton because of
his 1993 tax hikes? Nobody. So we need to force these
issues to the fore again in 2011 and 2012. We must make Obama run
on his record of 2009-2010 by demanding its repeal and forcing him to
fight again the same battles that cost him the House in 2010.
That is the path to victory.
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