There’s a problem about belonging to a political base. Sometimes your party ignores you. It takes
you for granted and spends all its energy wooing moderates and independents.
So occasionally the base needs to rebel. Just to remind the politicians where they live.
President Bush obviously wants to get Supreme Court nominations through the US Senate with the
minimum of fighting. That’s why he chose John Roberts: brilliant, but slippery. Democrats
could never get a grip on him, so half of them ended up voting for his confirmation. But last summer
conservatives started out unsure about Roberts. It took a while before they climbed on board his
nomination bandwagon.
With the Miers nomination, Bush crossed a line. Many conservatives just couldn’t swallow it, and they
said so. Now President Bush has to submit a new name, and he understands, no doubt, that the new
nominee must be someone that will excite the conservative base even at the cost of a battle in the US
Senate with the Roe v. Wade Democrats.
But with the Miers nomination history, it appears that conservatives are willing to come together
and fight for the president’s agenda.
According to
Donald Lambro and Ralph Z. Hallow conservatives have put the Miers imbroglio behind them
and are ready to fight for the president.
"The White House has begun shoring up its support among conservatives who have been upset
with them. The president has been more forceful
on spending issues, and that bodes well for his administration down the road," said Ron Bonjean,
chief spokesman for House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Illinois Republican."They’ve been playing defense for so long on Harriet Miers that it’s great to see them pivoting
and going on offense again on our issues," he said.
President Bush will need a united Republican Party going into the 2006 mid-term elections. Democratic
victories in Congress could make the final two years of his term a misery.
No comments:
Post a Comment