The Game is Changing: What Are Obama, Pelosi, and Reid up to Now?

As many pundits and bloggers have noted, Scott Brown’s election changed the game in DC.  As a result, the Democrats can’t count on the supermajority to get things done.  Not that they were able to do much with it anyway, thank God.  Now that the chemistry has changed, the rhetoric and tactics are changing as well.  So, lets throw some ideas around and see what the Dems are up to.

First, some basic assumptions based on what the POTUS has said or done.

1. They haven’t changed their plans!  They still want socialized medicine. They still want to cripple the economy with Cap and Trade.  They still want to cripple and permanently damage the economy  via excessive debt.  They still want more people dependent on the government.  They want to maintain their control over the banking sector.   In other words, they still want everything that they were after in 2009.  The end goals have not changed.
2. Contrary to what the Dems, and their media servants have been saying, they know that the people have been soured to their plans.  They know their collective seats are in jeopardy.
3. That being said, they’re going to have to change tactics, for the short term, to achieve their goals.  For example, they may accept a small part of what they initially wanted.  It will take them longer to get to the end goal, but if they can create a program now, especially one that damages the target industry, they can always come back and add to it at another time.
4. Reality is irrelevant to the Democrats.  For them, the ends justify the means, and they need to hold on long enough to get some of their stuff passed, and in so doing, they get their little Cloward-Piven plans started.  Also, they hope to take some steam out the GOP, and the Tea Parties.

This is what they might do:

1. They are offering some trinkets to the GOP.  Unfortunately, they will offer deals that they have no intention of honoring.  For example, they might continue to offer Nuclear Power plants and offshore drilling in exchange for a watered down Cap and Trade.  But, here’s the deal; they can pass Cap and Trade lite in a matter of weeks.  It takes years to plan and do offshore drilling, and even longer to build a Nuclear Plant.  So guess what will happen?  Cap and Trade lite will get passed, and the drilling and power plants?  POOF!  “Oops, did we forget to approve them?  Too bad, the public has forgotten.”  Plan “b” might be to allow them to start, and then cancel them.  Remember that they are against all energy development.  Can’t have plentiful energy sources in the “sustainable villages,” can we?  So, in other words, if the GOP falls for this, they are more naïve than the left!
2. The POTUS is offering a spending freeze.  For one thing, it will represent a tiny fraction of overall spending, and for the second, Obama can release this turkey knowing that the Congress won’t leave it in the budget.  That way, Obama can say that he tried to contain costs.  He’ll count on the public to forget.
3. In a delicious act of cover-up, the White house apparently spiked a story from Reuters yesterday.  Reuters did a naughty and openly discussed how Americans are about to be hosed by lots of tax increases, including those making less than $250,000.  The story was still up at Yahoo’s Canadian page, but it is now down as well. So, when they say that they aren’t going to raise taxes on you…let’s just say that they’re not being honest.  Surprised?
4. The POTUS did a photo-op with the Republicans last week.  I call it that because that’s what it was.  Obama was never interested in being bipartisan.  If he were, he would have done more to make it so in 2009.  He’s doing it now because he thinks he has to make the appearance of bipartisanship, and he wants to set the tone for the rest of the year, or at least up to the elections in November.  Now, some will say that this is due to the Congress and their refusal to cooperate.  In response, I would remind everyone that no only is Obama the POTUS, he is from the Chicago political machine.  What he wants, he expects to get.  If he wanted bipartisanship, he would have had it.  Never forget that the POTUS sets the tone.  At any rate, Obama only did it because he wants to appear bipartisan.  The emphasis should be on the word, “appear.”
5. This is where it get’s interesting.  The left has been portraying the GOP as the “party on no” since Obama was elected.  This is where they think that groundwork will pay off.  You see, for all of 2009, they didn’t need the Republicans to pass any of their initiatives.  They still have a vast majority in the House, and had a Supermajority in the Senate.  They locked the Republicans out of debates, and treated as if the weren’t part of the process, and they, indeed, were not.  The GOP wasn’t even a speed bump to them.  Now, that the GOP has some pull with “Brown 41,” they have to be part of the debate.  So, here is how I think it’s going to go.  They are going to propose things that they know the GOP will resist.  The Dems, and their lap dogs in the media, will continue to chant “party of no.”  Of course, the hope is that if they say it enough, that the people will believe it.  The media will ignore any GOP proposal, and state that they aren’t offering anything.
6. They hope the GOP bites on some of their ideas.  Not only would they get some of their policies in “lite” form, they would also either enrage or demoralize the Conservative base.  Either way, it might reduce the effectiveness of either in November.  They would really love it if we gave up or argued among ourselves.

So then, what should the GOP do?  Here is a re-post (updated) of some of my suggestions from a couple of weeks ago.

1. Stick with the “Big Three” issues that seems to be resonating with the base; fiscal responsibility, small government, and free markets.
2. Keep the moral high ground.  Stick with the fact that you are fighting for our Republic, and that people have soured on the myth of “hope and change.”
3. The media will NEVER like, or approve of you.  They will say whatever the left wants.  They will take your comments out of context, and make up what they can’t find.  Get over it and move on.
4. The Democrats, and especially the progressive wing, believes that the ends justify the means.  They will lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want.  Expect it, and prepare accordingly.
5. Do not vote for ANYTHING with an earmark!  Obama promised this, and conveniently forgot about it.  Steal his thunder, and make a big deal out of it.
6. Do not vote for anything that raises taxes.  Stress that taxes kill jobs.  When he Democrats claim that this is for the rich, counter that small businesses create most of the jobs.
7. Refuse anything that increases costs on working families.  Prepare to defend that.
8. Offer, and follow up on that offer, to work on health care.  Promote plans that increase patient choice, lower costs, and focus free market solutions.  Make the Democrats vote them down, and point that fact out whenever it happens.
9. Insist on transparency.  Cite the POTUS, and the fact that it hasn’t been followed.  It’ll keep the Democrats honest (in as much as this is possible).
10. Resist growth of government; cite that this does not work.
11. If the Democrats threaten to pass something without you, force the issue.  Make them pass something undesirable in spite of your resistance.  Keep the high ground, and explain your resistance & continue to offer alternatives that give power to the people, not the government.
12. Hold press conferences, offer interviews, and try to engage the press.  They’ll likely punt on it, but as long as FOX and the internet exist, your message will get out, and the MSM will be forced to continue it’s bias and ignore you. Or, they’ll cover you, and try to put a false spin on it.  In the end, it will only hurt the MSM, and the Democrats.  In other words, MAKE them ignore or distort you.
13. Use Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and blogs to get the message out.  This is the future, blitz all of them with you ideas.  People will see and read.  Make the MSM irrelevant, even as you are trying to make them ignore you.  Expose media omissions and distortions, present alternatives, and expose waste and corruption.
14. Point out the hypocrisy of the left.  They’re going to try to play nice and act bi-partisan, at least outwardly.  Remind everyone of how they acted in 2009.
15. Ignore the RNC.  Steele isn’t performing as advertised, and WE helped Brown win.

This will continue to unfold.  The Dems will have to continue changing their strategies, and re-naming their schemes to achieve their end-game goals.  We’ll be re-visiting this as it unfolds.  Feedback is welcome.