Fred Barnes, writing for the Wall Street Journal:
When congressional leaders met with President Obama on Jan. 13, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy asked the president to hold off on veto threats. At the time, Mr. Obama had already issued five. Mr. McCarthy suggested he wait until bills were working their way through Congress, when he would have a better sense of how they were evolving. That would improve relations between the White House and Republicans, now in control of the Senate and House. The president responded equivocally, then changed the subject. He has since issued eight more veto threats.
Mr. Obama is in a contentious mood. He and the Democratic Party suffered a harsh defeat in November’s midterm election, but the president is acting as if it never happened. He proposed a $4 trillion budget with increased spending and higher taxes—precisely what voters rejected in the election.
Republicans, meanwhile, are off to a bumpy start in the new Congress. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel l says they have a “number problem.” They have 54 senators but need 60 votes to overcome Democratic filibusters. They failed to reach 60—much less the two-thirds to override an Obama veto—in their effort to nullify Mr. Obama’s executive order legalizing the status of five million immigrants. And they withdrew legislation banning abortions after 20 weeks when Republican women balked at the language on rape.
Yet for all Mr. Obama’s obstinacy, Republicans are likely to have the upper hand in 2015. In the struggle with the White House, Republicans are the tortoise, Mr. Obama the hare. His moment is now. The Republican agenda will play out from the spring to the fall.
Mr. Obama is in a contentious mood. He and the Democratic Party suffered a harsh defeat in November’s midterm election, but the president is acting as if it never happened. He proposed a $4 trillion budget with increased spending and higher taxes—precisely what voters rejected in the election.
Republicans, meanwhile, are off to a bumpy start in the new Congress. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel l says they have a “number problem.” They have 54 senators but need 60 votes to overcome Democratic filibusters. They failed to reach 60—much less the two-thirds to override an Obama veto—in their effort to nullify Mr. Obama’s executive order legalizing the status of five million immigrants. And they withdrew legislation banning abortions after 20 weeks when Republican women balked at the language on rape.
Yet for all Mr. Obama’s obstinacy, Republicans are likely to have the upper hand in 2015. In the struggle with the White House, Republicans are the tortoise, Mr. Obama the hare. His moment is now. The Republican agenda will play out from the spring to the fall.
Whole thing here.
