Herman

Cain

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August 18, 2008

Worst Election Outcome Would Be More Power for Pelosi and Reid

On November 5, 2008 nearly half of the voting public will be disappointed that their presidential nominee did not win. If history and the most recent presidential elections are any indication, the November presidential election will be another very close election.

If my choice for president does not win, so be it. That’s the process and I still had the opportunity to exercise my right and responsibility to vote.

But my greater disappointment would be if more Democrats are elected to the House and Senate, which would further empower Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, the respective leaders of those chambers of Congress.

The president can’t sneeze without the intense scrutiny of the mainstream media and some members of Congress, and thus, his opportunity for abuse of power for purely political or personal agendas is minimal.

On the other hand, inappropriate uses of power by the Speaker of the House or the Senate Majority Leader are a lot less challenged by the media and the general public.

We only need to consider Nancy Pelosi’s arrogant adjournment of Congress for a five-week recess on August 1, 2008, which sparked a protest by House Republicans. Or consider Harry Reid’s insistence that the Social Security system is not approaching a financial crisis.

Jointly, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have refused to allow meaningful energy legislation to even get to the floor of their respective chambers for debate and a vote. Why? They know that enough Democrats would vote with the Republicans for what’s right, and meaningful energy legislation might pass.

Both Pelosi and Reid have declared that they want the “Bush tax cuts” to expire, which will send the fragile U.S. economy into a recession. If they do not believe it will happen, that’s a sad commentary about the leadership in the United States Congress. If they believe it will happen and will allow it to happen anyway, that’s just dangerous and irresponsible.

Both Pelosi and Reid declared the “surge” in Iraq a failure before General Petraeus could get back to his post in Iraq following another round of useless congressional hearings. Now that success in Iraq is imminent and the Bush Administration is talking about troop reductions, the silence from Pelosi, Reid and the Democrats is deafening.

There are enough RINO’s (Republicans In Name Only) in the Senate that if four or five more Democratic Senators are elected in November, Harry Reid will be able to get the required 60 votes to end debate on most bills that make it to the floor of the Senate. And as Reid has demonstrated, the bills that make it to the floor of the Senate will be of his choosing and not what the public is screaming for.

In the House, there are enough correct thinking Democrats to prevent Pelosi from completely steamrolling the legislative process, but a few more rookie Democratic representatives and the power of “earmarks” for pet projects could give the most powerful woman in America too much power.

When power is abused, that’s too much power.

Both Pelosi and Reid have been in Congress for over 20 years. They are well versed in the rules of the game, and how to create new ones with a party majority if they need to. They are also well schooled in how to say a lot about cooperation, openness and bi-partisanship, and then do very little to demonstrate those objectives.

There is a lot of uncertainty about the actions of the next president.

There is a lot of certainty about the actions of an empowered Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

That’s disappointing.  

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