Controversies threaten President Obama's second-term agenda. As the IRS, Benghazi, and AP scandals engulf an administration long predicated on expanding government power, lawmakers in Washington are using the opportunity to push forward legislation along similarly misguided philosophical lines.
Flying just beneath the public’s radar is a pitched battle over Obamacare’s implementation.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to calculate the exact degree of abuse. A Bush-era document says more than one-quarter of all benefits go toward food items not considered “basic.” It’s unclear if coconut milk and lemongrass would be considered basic, but if that ratio holds true today, the abuse far outweighs the fraud. That’s $20 billion in taxpayer money going for things like chips and soda, and maybe sweet clementine juice.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re on the far left, far right or somewhere in the middle, there is absolutely no denying the rise of the tea party has altered America’s political landscape. And the elite media is making clear, in no uncertain terms, they despise this type of change.
As Politico analyzed President Barack Obama’s political predicament, they offered several suggestions on how to proceed, with the third being, “Take the long view.”
Are you excited? Fresh off a two-week recess, Senators return to Washington tomorrow. Awaiting their return is the Leahy-Schumer-Reid gun tax.
It is absolutely maddening to watch the political left – liberals, progressives, whatever they call themselves nowadays – engage in hyperbole, mistruths and flip-flops with absolutely no political repercussions.
As with most conceptions, Obamacare was conceived behind closed doors. Unlike most conceptions though, there were many hands involved and lots of money tossed around. And but for the Immaculate Conception, it could have a larger impact than any other.
If Barack Obama wants Nancy Pelosi to be Speaker of the House in 2015, he needs to strike a grand bargain with his political adversaries – congressional Republicans.
Although America’s future will be shaped by the ongoing Washington budget battles, there are dozens of issues simmering just below the surface. Because freedom either advances or recedes with each vote, those issues deserve scrutiny as well.
If you’re reading this, it means you survived the sequester. Of course, as President Obama reminded us last Friday, “this is not going to be an apocalypse as some people have said.”
With the March 1st deadline for the sequester looming, the chorus of politicians and pundits decrying its passage in apocalyptic terms has reached a fevered pitch.
Of course President Obama does not hate poor people, nor does the most avid tea partier. Few (if any) policies are intended to harm the poor; in fact, most policies are intended help the poor. Unfortunately, good intentions do not always equal good results; such is the case with minimum wage.
Last week, I took issue with rumored 2016 contender and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who seemingly dismissed the importance of balancing the federal budget as “an obsession with government bookkeeping.”
“I plan to say some things that may challenge your assumptions,” warned Louisiana Governor and rumored 2016 contender Bobby Jindal. “You may not agree with all of it, but that’s ok, ours is a party that can handle real discussions.” Challenge accepted, Governor.
Four years ago, President Barack Obama told a captive nation that change would come. Change did indeed come to America, but not the change many people envisioned.
Last week, Politico profiled freshman Congressman Tom Cotton (R-AK) to give their readers a sneak peak at “the ‘hell no’ caucus.” According to the reporters, the Iraq and Afghanistan veteran who holds a pair of Harvard degrees is “neither a hick, nor a blowhard.” However, they said, “To much of the country, Cotton is nothing more than a straight, Southern, white, male, ‘radical’ conservative — a befuddling relic of a fading slice of politics.”
South Carolina’s James Clyburn, the third ranking Democrat in the House, appeared overwhelmed with joy. He proclaimed: “So here we are on New Year’s night, with the clock running out on the very existence of this Congress, finally considering bipartisan legislation to provide middle class tax cuts, require the wealthiest to, once again, pay their fair share so we can grow the economy, create jobs and protect the most vulnerable in our society."
Matt Damon, the actor who once gave $2,000 to Dennis Kucinich, is giving up on politics. He told Playboy, “It’s easier now more than ever in my life to feel the fix is in, the game is rigged and no matter how hard you work to change things, it just doesn’t matter.”
