In 1996, as Bill Clinton was hitting the campaign trail to seek re-election, Congress passed a massive welfare reform law and a minimum wage increase, both of which Clinton signed into law. The president was able to remind voters that even with a Republican Congress, led by a rabid partisan like Newt Gingrich, he could make the process of government work effectively in Washington.
Fast forward eight years. Can you name one major achievement for the White House this year? Neither can anyone else — and Bush is having trouble coming up with an effective excuse.
After three years of getting most of the major legislation he wanted through a cooperative Congress, President Bush is coming up almost empty-handed this year as he heads into the homestretch of his reelection campaign.
Capitol Hill has turned into a sinkhole for the unfinished business on Bush’s agenda, which includes bills to spur domestic energy production, crack down on lawsuits, extend his 2001 tax cuts and liberalize immigration rules.
Bush and his GOP allies blame the Democrats for the stalemate, as the minority party has become more united and stubborn in its opposition to White House initiatives.
How amusing. Republicans control the White House, the Senate, the House, the federal judiciary, and most state governments. But when governing comes to a complete halt, who’s to blame? Democrats, of course.
Even some GOP lawmakers are finding this nonsense hard to swallow.
“You can’t just point your finger and call Democrats obstructionist,” said Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.). “If you have a job to do, you have to do it. People aren’t interested in how many storms you encounter at sea. They want to know when you pull into port.”
Moreover, GOP whining about the Dems obscures a more important point: nothing is getting done because Republicans are fighting amongst themselves.
But many issues, such as highway funding and additional tax cuts, have languished not just because of Democratic obstruction but also because of divisions among Republicans — between the House and Senate, moderates and conservatives, and Bush and congressional leaders.
Last week’s Senate debate on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage was symptomatic of the many forces conspiring to turn this year into a legislative bust for the White House. Despite Bush’s strong push for the amendment — a crowd pleaser for his party’s conservative wing — it met with resounding defeat in the face of solid Democratic opposition and a divided Republican Party.
Even in the House, where Republicans are generally more disciplined in following Bush, his agenda is facing challenges. The House this month nearly passed a measure to scale back Bush’s signature anti-terrorism law, the Patriot Act. Only an intensive, 11th-hour round of arm-twisting by GOP leaders spared Bush an embarrassing defeat.
And I’d add that congressional Republicans have been at odds with the White House over shaping the federal budget, leading to a stalemate. This will probably be only the third year in three decades in which the federal government will not have a detailed blueprint for government spending and tax policy, all because the GOP is divided against itself.
Bush aides, with all of their collective wisdom, can’t think of a better excuse than blaming Dems. So much for the era of responsibility.
“We would like Congress to do more,” said [Trent Duffy, a White House spokesman]. “But we may have to wait for an election to change those sorts of prospects.”
Oddly enough, I’m inclined to agree with Duffy’s point wholeheartedly. We will have to wait for an election to produce change in Washington. Duffy’s vision — an election that keeps everything in GOP hands — doesn’t make any sense, since we already have that and it’s not working.
So, how about we try the opposite?