This Shellacking Will Save the Obama Presidency

President Obama’s failing presidency just found salvation: A GOP controlled Congress for his last two years in office. They will salvage some of his legacy.

Just a few years ago:

In Obama’s first meeting with Democratic and Republican House and Senate leaders, just two weeks after his inauguration, he told the group that he wanted to hear everyone’s ideas and come to a bipartisan solution—words he had run his presidential platform on. He told those assembled, “If it works, we don’t care whose idea it is.” But the next day his tune changed when Rep. Eric Cantor, then House minority whip, passed out a draft of a potential economic recovery plan that essentially met only the Republican demands. After reading the one-page spread, the president responded: “I can go it alone but I want to come together. Look at the polls. The polls are pretty good for me right now.” He then told Cantor, “Elections have consequences and Eric, I won.”

Well, Mr. President, elections do indeed have consequences. As of 11:30pm tonight, America won:

Stunning Republican victories came in reliably Democratic states, including those won overwhelmingly by Obama in 2012. Illinois ousted Democrat Pat Quinn in favor of Republican Bruce Rauner, while Maryland voters opted for Republican Larry Hogan over Democrat Anthony Brown. Republican Charlie Baker won a Massachusetts match-up against Martha Coakley, the state attorney general who lost a special Senate election to Scott Brown in 2010.

Begala: GOP ran better candidates

Republicans also continued their dominance of governors’ mansions when a number of GOP leaders fought off stiff challenges from Democrats.

Republican Rick Scott defeated Republican-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist in a very tight and hotly contested race.

Wisconsin’s Scott Walker and Georgia’s Nathan Deal both narrowly won re-election in the face of well-financed Democratic challenges, according to CNN projections. Ohio’s John Kasich, Iowa’s Terry Branstad and New Mexico’s Susana Martinez also dispatched weaker Democratic challengers. And bombastic Maine Republican Gov. Paul LePage survived a stiff challenge from Rep. Michael Michaud to win a second term.

It appears Tom Foley has lost his gubernatorial bid for Connecticut.

Tom Corbett lost to Democrat Tom Wolf in Pennsylvania.

A close race in Virginia saw Democrat Mark Warner win re-election against Republican challenger, Ed Gillespie.

At the moment, Colorado is still too early to call:

Republican Rep. Cory Gardner won the race for Colorado’s U.S. Senate seat, defeating incumbent Sen. Mark Udall. Colorado voted for President Obama in 2008 and 2012.

Iowa is another state that voted for President Obama in both presidential election years; yet Republican Joni Ernst won the race for Iowa’s U.S. Senate seat held by retiring Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, defeating Democratic challenger Bruce Braley.

Kansas conservatives weren’t fooled by Greg Orman’s “independent” status and “got out the vote” for Pat Roberts. Vice President Joe Biden probably didn’t do Orman any favors by suggesting he’d caucus with the Democrats. And speaking of Uncle Joe, you’d think the Obama Administration would have kept him under lock-and-key rather than sending him out there to speak in public. Remember it was only a couple of months ago when Joe Biden suggested that we would chase ISIS to the Gates of Hell? Only to say a month later that ISIS and Islamic terrorism poses no “existential threat” to the United States? He reiterated that point on Monday, interviewing on CNN with Gloria Borger (also predicting that Democrats would hang on to their Senate majority):

There is no existential threat to the United States right now. There are fewer than five cases of Ebola in the entire United States of America. The American public gains confidence in the fact of the way this is being handled; that science does matter.”

He went on: “You look at what’s happening with ISIS. ISIS is not an existential threat to something happening to someone in the United States of America. It’s a serious problem overseas but it’s confusing and frightening.

Yet he says they’re so not an existential threat to us that we should follow them to the gates of hell? Ok. Thanks for the gifting.

Republican Thom Tillis wins North Carolina Senate race.

In South Carolina, Republican Tim Scott becomes the first African-American senator to win election in the South since Reconstruction.

Along with Senate seat victories that rids of Harry Reid’s Senate “leadership”, Republicans also expanded their majority in the House from Tuesday’s election results (taking 11 seats from Democrats, as of this post’s writing).

All in all, how is this election not a repudiation and referendum on President Obama and his policies?

One bright spot for the President is that a GOP-controlled Congress may just save President Obama from himself. For the past few years, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has been a source of the gridlock and “nothing done” in Congress.

It has also been President Obama who has been the uncompromising one (“I won.”), wanting bipartisanship to amount to “Go along with my agenda and we have bipartisanship”.

President Obama’s policies and “leadership” have been a disaster for this country. The legacy of which, may find its silver lining in the next two years if the GOP Congressional leadership can get its bills signed by the President.

With one eye on his legacy and another on the 2016 elections, President Obama will not dare veto or block every conservative proposal.

Today, because of American ingenuity and technological skill, the United States has become the world’s leading oil and natural gas producer. A top priority of the new Congress should be to secure the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline to ensure our No.1 standing.

The tax code has become so cumbersome and complicated that even Ernst and Young is not sure what is in it. A congressional priority should be a reformed code with a flat, fair rate for all. A corollary reform would be to lower the corporate tax—now the highest in the industrialized world–so that U.S. corporations will stop moving overseas and stay home.

It is unacceptable that we now have a national debt of nearly $18 trillion, about $300,000 per American family. Federal spending must come down, starting with what might be called “Operation Just Say No.” In its oversight role, Congress should push to combine and eliminate the 80 different education programs aimed at improving teacher quality, the 80 different transportation programs that serve disadvantaged individuals, the 80 different welfare programs, the 45 different job training programs.

Under the Constitution, a primary obligation of the federal government is to provide for the common defense. But according to Heritage Foundation research, the Army is on a dismal track to 50 percent of the size needed to meet national security demands. Similarly, the Navy is scheduled to be downsized to 250 ships, far below what is needs to help protect our security. In contrast, President Reagan knew that we must have a strong military and a strong foreign policy to deter threats before they materialize.

Congress should propose common-sense solutions for the problems of immigration—beginning with secure borders, welcoming high-skilled workers and simplifying the process for legal immigrants. We should be more concerned with treating fairly the 4.4 million people waiting for a green card rather than the 11 million illegal immigrants already here.

Other possible reforms include the elimination of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Transportation Empowerment Act by which states can set their own transportation policy, rejection of Common Core standards, education savings accounts, the prohibition of federal discrimination against individuals and organizations on the basis of their religious beliefs, market-driven health care–not government-approved and taxpayer-subsidized health plans.

And then there is what could be most important issue of all—the Senate confirmation of a Supreme Court nomination. We do not know if one of the present justices will retire or become so ill as to be obliged to resign, but history suggests it could happen sometime in the next two years. Facing a conservative Senate, the president will necessarily be circumscribed in his choices and his goal of enshrining a “living” Constitution.

So, what difference can a conservative Congress make? Literally, all the difference in the world.

House Speaker Boehner has taken a lot of heat from hardcore conservatives and little credit for what he has done right:

Congress cut spending from 2011 to 2013. It was reduced from $3.60 trillion in 2011 to $3.54 trillion in 2012 to $3.45 trillion in 2013. The reductions are far from earth-shattering, but, for the federal government, this is pretty much an earthquake.

This is the first time since 1953-55 that spending was cut in consecutive years. Yet, Congress doesn’t seem to be getting much credit. When I listen to conservative talk-radio or converse with Republicans or read conservative websites, they constantly bash their own leaders in Congress as little better than President Obama and the Democrats.

They eviscerate House Speaker John Boehner as a wimp and a stooge. They demand that Reagan conservatives be elected to Congress. Well, I have news for them: Ronald Reagan never saw a reduction in federal spending — not once in eight years. Neither did George W. Bush. Even the Bill Clinton-Newt Gingrich partnership, which eliminated the deficit, never cut spending. Only the current Congress has done that.

The record deficit that threatened to bury this nation four years ago, after the Democrats’ disastrous stimulus plan, has been cut by more than half to $500 billion in 2014. That’s still high, but it’s a remarkable improvement. Think about that when you think about this Congress.

When the GOP doesn’t control the presidency and one house of Congress, there’s only so much that Republican lawmakers can do. Now that they will have control of both Houses, there should be less gridlock and obstructionism.

Just as former President Bill Clinton can claim successes such as welfare reform and a supposed budget surplus, so too will President Obama benefit and be able to take credit for positive successes that come out of a GOP-led Congress. If he and the next Congress are able to work together, it will be the salvation of his presidential legacy.