time to listen to him

I’m less worried Republicans will roll back the Affordable Care Act or reduce taxes on the wealthy over the next two years – the President’s veto pen will prevent that – than I am about Obama joining with Republicans to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline, the Trans Pacific Partnership, and the “chained CPI” (that would reduce future Social Security payments). Obama has either sought these in the past or hinted he would, and he (and McConnell and Boehner) will be so eager to show they can work together that these will prove irresistible.

What other bad “agreements” between the White House and congressional Republicans might we expect?

These were the very thoughts that crossed my mind as I sat in the cool dark of the early morning Wednesday. As noted by Reich, Obama has shown that he may be amenable to things like the chained CPI. Obama has also indicated that he favors the TPP, which most expect to be a real disaster for all but the wealthiest of Americans.

While Reich doesn’t believe the Republicans will go after the ACA I believe they will. But they will not go after the whole package. Much like the strategy they have employed against Medicare and Social Security they will chip, chip, chip around the edges, slowly making damage to what is already a somewhat fragile structure of health care for those the insurance companies would love to jettison. Will Obama have the cajones to veto a spending bill with an amendment that damages the ACA?

One bill that is seldom discussed that is left over from the 70 or so days when Democrats had a filibuster proof majority is Dodd-Franks. While not the strongest financial regulation bill ever, there are provisions that are keeping the vultures from once again destroying our financial system. You can bet that all those billions of dollars were not spent just to have Republicans pass an anti-ACA bill that would get vetoed.

Crippling Dodd-Franks was never mentioned in the campaign, but I think we can be assured that it was talked about in very closed rooms. Once more the strategy employed to cripple Dodd-Franks will be to attach amendments to spending bills that if vetoed will shut the government down. Mitch McConnell told us that this would be his strategy during the campaign. Even if Harry Reid would employ the obstructionist tactics that McConnell honed to a fine point in bringing government to a standstill, which most doubt he will, McConnell will use reconciliation tactic to push legislation through.

This will be a contentious two years. As mentioned, will Harry Reid stand up and do whatever he can to keep us from being pushed a century backwards? Will Obama wield his veto pen and make strong, coherent statements that makes the public understand that he is protecting us from predatory Republican policy? Will Democrats be able to counter the corporate media that once more will blame anything and everything on a mythological Obama? Stay tuned.