The New Obama Strategy-Not Moving to the Center

Posted by Jeff Carter
on December 30th, 2010

Post November election, the left wing press was speculating that Obama would move to the center, a la Bill Clinton. The entire lame duck session of Congress was point and fact about the new pragmatic Obama. Don’t be fooled.

It is not enough for true conservatives to hold the levers of power in the Congress, and even the Presidency. It is absolutely critical that we start to dismantle the bureaucratic juggernaut that has been built since 1932. The bureaucrats of all the various agencies in Washington can do more damage to the cause of freedom than any single Congressional committee.

Here are three different instances of policy that Congress outright rejected, but may still be instituted. Of course, Obama supports them. He won’t dissuade them because it’s stealth liberalism. All of them have happened after the November election.

Congress rejected cap and trade, and many of the wasteful green energy agendas of the far left. Instead we get. (Source, the Wall Street Journal, go read the whole article)

“Let’s be very clear on what’s happening here: Mr. Wellinghoff and FERC are trying to establish by regulatory fiat a national energy policy that Congress has refused to endorse. Last summer Congress rejected the Obama Administration’s renewable energy standard law because it would have inflated power costs. So the fiefdom at FERC is unilaterally moving ahead to require that industries and homeowners pay a surtax on their utility bills for a nonexistent renewable energy policy. This is similar to the EPA’s initiatives to regulate carbon even after Congress rejected cap and trade.”

Socialized medicine (Obamacare) remains tremendously unpopular. Death panels were a part of Obamacare, because most of the lifetime medical expense for a person takes place in the last two years of their life. Euthanasia is an acceptable alternative for government bureaucrat accountants. Death panels supposedly were not in the socialized medical bill right? Wrong again. From the Wall Street Journal,

ObamaCare proponents derided fears of “death panels” as a product of tea partiers’ fevered imagination, and they lamented when Congress removed the provision that would have provided for end-of-life counseling that might coax the elderly away from life-sustaining but expensive treatments. Not to fear: The administration has resurrected that provision through regulations, and Medicare will now pay for such counseling as part of elderly “wellness assessments.” Yes, the “death panels” charge is somewhat crude, but combine cost-based rationing with end-of-life counseling and, well, here we are.

Net Neutrality was not passed by the 111th Congress. Instead, they thought it better to have free and open competition. Never fear, your regulator is here. We ought to dismantle the FCC. From theStreet.com,

On Dec. 21, the FCC passed a new set of net neutrality rules that prohibit broadband providers from blocking consumers from lawful Web sites or Internet traffic. Despite strong opposition from the two Republicans on the five-member commission, FCC chairman Julius Genachowski and his two fellow Democrats on the board passed the rules with a 3-2 vote.

In Rasmussen’s Dec. 23 telephone survey of 1,000 likely U.S. voters, 54% said they are opposed to the FCC’s regulation of the Internet. Only 21% said they were in favor and 25% said they are not sure. By a 52% to 27% margin, voters believe free market competition would protect Internet users better than rules and regulation.

In Obamaworld, it really doesn’t matter what the voters want. Representative Republic? (shoulder shrug) Who needs it? The strategy is simple. Don’t get what you want in Congress. Do an end run to regulators that will acquiesce to your every want and need.

UPDATE

President Barack Obama, sidestepping Congress, named the first U.S. ambassador to Syria in nearly six years and a deputy attorney general in recess appointments after the nominations ran into trouble among Republicans. (fits with the theme of this post)

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