Random Ruminations, Episode 1

1]  Beginning in January, with the Republicans in control of both houses of the United States Congress, President Obama will have been boxed in, not into lame duck status exactly, but into a situation where executive action will be his only means of exerting power.  I therefore think that, far from capitulating to the calls for bi-partisanship, he is probably going to be as confrontational as ever.

What, then, is he likely to do?  Here are some possibilities of actions he make take over the next two years, largely gleaned from published punditry:

  • Accelerate his misguided efforts to reach an accord with Iran, in order to add another notch on his legacy.
  • Act to close the Guantanamo Bay prison facility.  If he does, the question will be what does he do with the remaining terrorists who are still in custody there.  Does he move them to facilities within U.S. borders, or simply turn them loose?
  • Act to implement defacto immigration reform.
  • Turn loose the EPA regulatory hounds.
  • Urge his minions at the National Labor Relations Board to find ways to empower unions.
  • Continue to tinker with ObamaCare in an effort to make the citizenry more attached to it, thereby making it harder for Congress to abolish it.

2]  ObamaCare was signed into law in January of 2010 after having been passed in the Senate by a sixty-vote majority, all Democrats.  Courtesy of reporter Philip Klein’s analysis, we now know that, of those sixty who voted for passage of ObamaCare, twenty-eight lost their senate seat in either the 2010, 2012, or 2014 elections.  True, not all lost their seats outright, but it can be argued that at least half of the losses can be attributed to their ObamaCare vote.  Maybe including Kay Hagan’s.  For another view in agreement with Klein’s (and mine), check out THIS very short piece at the online Weekly Standard from reporter Jeffrey Anderson.

3]  Ever heard of the REINS Act?  Look into it, HERE, because I’m hopeful that the Republican Congress will make it a priority next year.

4]  The election results are bound to put a lot of pressure on Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg, who, despite her age (81) and health problems, is on record as saying that she did not want to retire until there was a likelihood that her successor would be as liberal as she.  With the senate in control of the Republicans, that cannot happen JusticeGinsbergduring the remainder of President Obama’s term, and she has to consider that Obama’s successor may very well be a Republican.  My guess is that she will retire next year rather than attempt to hold out for another six years.  President Obama will nominate a woman to replace her, of course, as her’s has now become known as a “woman’s seat” on the court, but it will be a less liberal woman if the nominee is to have any hope of being confirmed.  Some are suggesting 54-yo Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota’s senior Senator and a former chief prosecutor in the State’s Hennepin County.  Klobuchar’s formal political membership is in Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor party, which is closely tied to the national Democratic Party, and she was first elected in 2006.

5]  One of the things that Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, soon to be Majority Leader, will have to decide early on is whether to change the Senate rules for confirmation of judges to the lower Federal courts.  As readers may remember, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid cravenly changed the rules to provide for only a simple majority in order to assure confirmation of three liberal Obama nominees to the Federal bench at the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C. circuit.  My view?  Sauce for the goose …

6]  I was heartened to see columnist George Will come out in favor, within his list of the six things that the Congress should do first next year, of mandating the quick completion and activation of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste depository.  For some detail on this fifteen-billion dollar debacle, click HERE.

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