In April, the book Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives by Robert Draper was published. The book detailed the shenanigans of the House of Representatives after the 2010 election in which the Republican Party, with the help of the Tea Party Movement, retook the House of Representatives.
However, an eyebrow-raising portion of this book came at the prologue where Draper detailed that several top Republican lawmakers, on the night of President Obama's inauguration in 2009, planned ways to undermine his agenda. According to Sam Stein of The Huffington Post:
According to Draper, the guest list that night (which was just over 15 people in total) included Republican Reps. Eric Cantor (Va.), Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), Paul Ryan (Wis.), Pete Sessions (Texas), Jeb Hensarling (Texas), Pete Hoekstra (Mich.) and Dan Lungren (Calif.), along with Republican Sens. Jim DeMint (S.C.), Jon Kyl (Ariz.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), John Ensign (Nev.) and Bob Corker (Tenn.). The non-lawmakers present included Newt Gingrich, several years removed from his presidential campaign, and Frank Luntz, the long-time Republican wordsmith. Notably absent were Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio).
For several hours in the Caucus Room (a high-end D.C. establishment), the book says they plotted out ways to not just win back political power, but to also put the brakes on Obama's legislative platform.
"If you act like you're the minority, you're going to stay in the minority," Draper quotes McCarthy as saying. "We've gotta challenge them on every single bill and challenge them on every single campaign."
The revelation that some Republicans were planning to undermine President Obama's agenda on the night of his inauguration did play in various outlets. For the most part, conservatives and Republicans ignored it while Democrats registered shock at something they probably already suspected.
Many of the players involved in the 2009 meeting played prominent roles when it came to undermining Obama:
Gingrich was once an aspiring presidential candidate where during a debate earlier this year, he infamously called Obama the "Food Stamp President."
Sen. DeMint was heard bragging in 2009 that if Republicans stopped the passage of Obamacare (which they didn't), it would mark Obama's "Waterloo."
During the debt ceiling debacle spurred by Republican stridency in 2011, Rep. Cantor undermined any dealings that Boehner and President Obama could have had to end the crisis.
And even though they were absent from the meeting, both McConnell and Boehner have publicly undermined President Obama.
McConnell actually bragged in 2010 that the number one goal of Republicans was to hold President Obama to one term.
According to Time Magazine, in 2009, Boehner reportedly instructed House Republicans to publicly trash the just released $815 million stimulus bill on cable, on YouTube, on the House floor.
And collectively, Republicans have held up Obama's American Jobs Act for over a year. According to Think Progress, the American Job Act has been praised by several economists for the high number of jobs it could potentially create.
Even more problematic than this is the seemingly cynical ho-hum attitude of the Beltway media and punditry about these revelations. Their jaded "big deal, it's Washington" and "we've seen it all before" attitude is a huge part of the problem.
It's their schizophrenic mindset that leads them to pound us relentless about the sad state of the economy and the gridlock in Washington, while remaining clueless on how to put two and two together. Or in layman's terms, when you have government officials and their allies pretending to be J.R. Ewing on Dallas or Alexis Colby on Dynasty, the needs of the people they have sworn to serve are bound to suffer.
A case can be made that Republicans' preoccupation with damaging Obama over the needs of their constituents has played a part in the slowness of the country's economic recovery.
And five months later after these revelations have become known, the 2009 plot should take on a new poignancy because some of the players of this game are taking huge roles in the 2012 election.
For example, Frank Luntz has been recently hired by CBS to be an "analyst" for the upcoming election.
But most importantly, Paul Ryan is now Mitt Romney's running mate for the White House. This allows him to go from state to state and speak on the stump as to how Obama's legislative agenda has supposedly failed.
Of course, judging from his acceptance speech at the recent Republican Convention, Ryan omits his role in making sure Obama's agenda had troubles. Remember, he claimed that Obama ignored for the findings of Bowles-Simpson debt commission when in fact he himself derailed the commission by leading a bloc of Republicans to vote against its findings.
Bottom line: Questions need to be asked to all of those who took part in that 2009 meeting, particularly Paul Ryan. Before he lambasts Obama's alleged failed legislative agenda, we need to know how much did he contribute to this supposed failure and was it deliberate?
Ryan and Mitt Romney claim to be America's comeback team, but that claim is extremely specious if Ryan helped to orchestrate something which put America in a position to need a comeback in the first place.
That's not a defense ... that's justification, and so very weak.
Who doesn't have a problem with republican proposals and policies?
First i'd ask What Proposals? They've been consistent at least attacking old people, the poor, science, education, the environment, children and trying to give Corporations and millionaires bigger tax breaks, but they've not proposed anything substantive, nothing with any hope of bi-partisan support ...
As to their 'policies' ... yikes. Their policies are advancing their partisan agenda with no regard for the people of this country. They've done nothing to help create jobs and have, in fact, stood in the way of any meaningful legislation that would have done so, all the while screaming for lower and lower taxes for THEMSELVES.
NOT the economy.
NOT the endless foreclosures.
NOT healthcare.
NOT the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
NOT Doing what they were elected to do...
NOT America...
NOT Our Troops...
NOT Our children...
NOT Jobs...
NOT National Security...
NOT Americans...
NOT Truth...
NOT Justice...
NOT The American way...
NOT the Environment...
NOT any of the things that makes this the greatest country on earth.
None of those things, in a Global Recession, were more important that ousting our duly elected President. They didn't try to help. They actively tried to harm, not just OUR President, but our country and its people. US, We the People. And anyone advocating for Them, is saying it's OK to harm the country to get rid of a black guy and no one will notice that they didn't do anything in their job descriptions or their campaigns. They lied to their supporters and hope the rest of us will believe their new lies.
I'm tired of the lies. I've watched their obstructionist ways for almost 4 years and i remember. Obama has never lost my vote.
46 bills on abortion
113 bills on religon
73 bills on family relations
36 bills on marriage
72 bills on guns
604 bills on taxation
467 bills on government investigations
now, where are all the bills for jobs and the economy?? yet, republicans have a nerve to blame obama? vote all republicans out.
worst recession in 75 years.
13 straight months of job losses.
Dow Jones indust. down to 8,000.
1.4 trillion deficit.
Two wars.
GM and Chrysler on the brink of bankruptcy.
Osama Bin Laden still on the loose.
Obama inherited the worst mess since the great depression! He has the economy headed in the right direction.. Some help from the republicans in Congress would help too!
Also, not just 'Two wars' ... 'Two UNFUNDED Wars' ... adding to those deficit numbers the Republican'ts love to throw out but turn a blind eye to when people start asking where the money is actually going.
They gave over $2 Trillion back to the richest 1% over the last 10 years (ie. Lost Revenue, a.k.a. The Bush tax cuts), then expected the people of this great country to BORROW the money for their wars.
And now wallstreet's humming and mainstreet's still suffering from their 'good business sense' while they loftily sit on piles of cash staring down at the starving masses all the while saying 'We need more' through their GOP-bought-and-paid-for-Mouthpieces who will gladly spew trickle-down-lies to further their monetary gain.
Is it any wonder they want Mitt in the White House? How much better off can they get? I'm actually afraid to find out.
Santorum At CPAC: ‘Absolutely We Hope That’ Obama Fails, ‘I Believe His Policies Will Fail’
Tom DeLay Channels Limbaugh: I Want Obama To Fail
Limbaugh Responds To Sanford: The ‘Hell We Don’t’ Want Obama To Fail! Just Need ‘The Guts’ To Say So
Michelle Malkin: I hope Obama fails.
A fellow Hoosier, now a Buckeye. I grew up with a Republican father and a Democratic mother. Mom had a much more convincing argument for her fervently held beliefs....
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012 if you really want to save this nation.
That was another era, indeed.
What we are witnessing, now, is nothing short of national suicide, and it is sad to watch.
The only thing that needs to be looked into very seriously is the heads of the people who think being opposed to the President is illegal.