President Obama has been compared to many politicians — but former President Richard Nixon may be a first.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz discussed Obama and the Democrats’ lack of willingness to criticize him during a Newsmax TV interview Monday, drawing a contrast between Obama’s close ties with congressional Democrats and Nixon’s often testy relationship with his fellow Republicans during his presidency.
“It’s very interesting. Democratic senators privately will admit all sorts of things,” the Republican said. “But it’s really disturbing — Democratic senators have been unwilling to stand up to this president, really on almost anything.”
The likely 2016 presidential contender specifically compared Democratic senators’ actions toward Obama to the actions of Republicans while Nixon was in office.
“We’ve had presidents in the past who have abused power. But when that has happened: When Richard Nixon abused power, Republican senators stood up to him and said, ‘Mr. President, you’ve gone too far.’ In fact, it was Republican senators who went to the Oval Office … and said, ‘Mr. President, it’s time for you to resign,'” Cruz said. “What is strikingly missing are Democratic senators who have more commitment to the Constitution and rule of law than they do to their party.”
Cruz also used the 2013 IRS targeting controversy, in which conservative-leaning groups applying for tax exemptions were singled out for extreme scrutiny and slow-walking of their applications, as a prime example of controversy surrounding the Obama administration that Democrats have been unwilling to touch.
“But the point is when the IRS targeted citizens’ groups for their political views, Democrats circled ranks around the president,” Cruz said. “To be honest, Nixon tried to use the IRS to target his political enemies; President Obama’s administration succeeded.”
