It’s a valid question: If Obama wins the 2012 election, but there’s still a Republican majority in Congress, then won’t they continue blocking everything the President and democrats try to do? Answer: sort of, because there will be a lot of wounds being licked after this outrageous election cycle. Sadly, moreover, some people are using obstruction by Congress as a reason to vote for Romney – rewarding Congress for its bad behavior. Not cool. On the day before the election, even Mitt Romney is using this argument to try and convince the country to hire him.
First: don’t forget about the Senate filibuster, which means the same would happen if Mitt wins; especially with the sort of policies he’s supporting. Second, Congress acting like babies is no reason to vote out a President: Congress governing by obstruction should never be rewarded.
Will Congress Stop Obstruction?
I still hold the position that if Obama wins a second term, then it will be a strong message, if not a mandate to the republicans in Congress who are the main reason why its approval numbers are so disastrously low. Moreover: Obama can’t have a third term, and preventing an Obama re-election was the Republicans’ primary motivation to block all legislative progress, so that behavior motivation disappears.
Related: What Happens if Obama Wins a Second Term.
Nothing gets done in Washington since 2008 because the republicans in Congress won’t allow it. We all know that. Even if you are a hard right republican you know that, but the difference is you just agree with it as a method of governing. Republican obstruction is not Obama’s fault as a leader, it’s a fault of timing as the make-up of the country teaters on the 50/50 fence. Republicans made the decision to block everything Obama would try on inauguration day – but it is something that would likely stop happening if Mitt Romney wins the White House. But then the fear hits of what sort of crazy policies might get passed with Mitt Romney as President… and would democrats in the Senate allow them… I tend to think they would start filibustering almost as much as the republicans have the last four years.
Meaning: either way, if Mitt Romney wins OR Obama wins a second term: Washington will still have road blocks because of 1) democrats don’t like legislating religion so the Senate would be at a stand still, or 2) if Obama wins, there are still enough extreme right republicans to stop any movement of meaningful legislation. All they do is continue to vote on pointless ideological bills that they know will never pass the Senate, let alone an Obama veto.
BUT: is a re-election of Obama enough to send a message to the REAL republican leadership: Boehner and McConnel that they need to start working with the President rather than do everything against him.
I think they will work… a little, and as such Washington won’t be moving like Clinton years, but it will be better than what it has been since 2010.
Why? Chris Christie for one. He has his eyes on the Presidency, and Congress has to make sure that they are on his good side. One thing I can say for Chris Christie is he does seem to care more about getting things done than politics (for now). If Congress keeps up its blocking philosophy, then Christie will start calling them out more and more about it, which will hurt their own re-election bids.
Second: Obama doesn’t have a third term. The primary goal of blocking everything Obama and the Democratic Party wants to do was to PREVENT Obama from winning a second term. If Obama wins, then they lose that motive. However small that aspect might be, it wil losen the gridlock just a little bit among republicans who are NOT extreme in their ideologies and who, like Chris Christie, want to get things done, not just be involved in playground politics.
If Obama wins a second term, there will still be road blocks set up by the extreme right, and the right-wing aspect of media will still have all their conspiracy theories, but in so many, very subtle ways, some of the hair clog will get washed out.
Moreover, democrats might even start to get a bit brave. As a political party, they tend to be sorta of weak… afraid to offend… but if Obama wins in a political environment that is THIS polarized and down right mean, he’ll win on issues true to the hearts of democrats: women’s rights, union rights, the middle class, health care. Democrats in Congress might get some wind in their sails as a result and fight a bit harder rather than always bend over to the republican’s constant push to the right.
Me, I’m terrified of what Grover Norquist has said: all they need is a president who can sign his name. That’s EXACTLY what Mitt Romney is, and at his shoulder he’ll have Paul Ryan, one of the MOST extreme republicans in Congress. I don’t think the Senate democrats would ever let those sorts of policies get through, but nevertheless: we shouldn’t even gamble with that possibility: personhood amendments, trickle-down economics round 4, de-regulation… stocks would be higher if Mitt Romney wins, for awhile… but he and the republicans would aggressively set the stage to exactly how it was the the system collapsed. (Besides that, Romney’s lies more than a 3 year old stealing Halloween candy from his sister. He’s brought lying to an entirely new level, and that kind of behavior cannot be rewarded nor trusted.)
