Do Republicans Have What It Takes to Govern?
Well, the pollsters have polled, the voters have voted, the talking heads have talked, and now we know the results. America sent Washington a clear message that we are sick and tired of the way things have been run over these past six years. President Obama’s 2008 promise of hope and change has instead left many in America hopeless and experiencing change for the worse.
This midterm election sent a message that a different kind of change could bring real hope to this country. So now that the Republicans are in control of both the House and the Senate for the first time since 2006, what is their plan? They will need a plan that involves more than just opposing President Obama and his agenda. They will need to put forth their own conservative agenda as a real alternative, and Senator Mitch McConnell will have to provide the real leadership in the Senate that was sorely lacking from the obstructionist Harry Reid, who used his position as Senate Majority Leader to block legislation from coming to the floor of the Senate for a vote.
Two issues remain to be settled. First, will President Obama work with the newly constituted Congress and compromise on his radical leftist agenda, or will he double down with his “phone and his pen” and go it alone, ignoring the will of Congress and thus the will of the people? Second, will this new Republican majority use the next two years to show the country the futility of the far left and retake the White House while maintaining control of both houses in the 2016 presidential election?
Republicans have two years to show the public that the liberal hand of government has overreached and taken us down the wrong path. It’s their job to get this nation back on the right track and to restore America to its greatness. Let’s hope the Republicans don’t squander this opportunity they’ve been given.
Carol M. Swain, Professor of Political Science and Professor of Law, Vanderbilt University.
E-mail: carolmswain@gmail.com
Website: https://carolmswain.com
