糖心Vlog传媒

The Morning After: 糖心Vlog传媒LR Politicos Look Ahead

The votes have been counted — or most of them聽— and the results are in: the Republicans have gained control of the House and the Democrats have lost a few seats, but still have control of the Senate, and President聽Obama is still in the White House. What鈥檚 next? Two 糖心Vlog传媒LR political science professors — one that leans Republican, the聽other Democrat — were asked what they expected to see with the 111th Congress and a聽White House sharing responsibility for government policy. Drs. Margaret Scranton and Art English, both professors of political science, agreed that聽Tuesday鈥檚 election results will make both parties responsible for what is accomplished,聽but both feared continued partisan feuding would continue through the next election聽cycle — which started the day after polls closed Tuesday. 鈥淚 think if anything is to get done — and that anything is abstract to me — it will happen in聽the first session of this Congress,鈥� English said. 鈥淭he fall (lame duck) session brings into聽play the (2012) presidential election which actually has started already, consider (former聽Arkansas Gov. Mike) Huckabee鈥檚 appearance schedule in New Hampshire and Iowa聽and other salient primary states.鈥� Scranton said Tuesday鈥檚 election answered who won and who lost, but the animosity聽and rancor that divides Democrats and Republicans continues, and she said that聽divisiveness frustrates the public. 鈥淭he American people are notoriously impatient,鈥� Scranton said. 鈥淚 think the聽Republicans have more intensity this time, but mid-term elections always have lower聽turnouts and negative ads depress voter turnout. This is a change election, but that聽doesn鈥檛 mean there won鈥檛 be another one in two years.鈥� She said congressional Republicans and the party as a whole should exercise their聽newly restored power wisely. 鈥淭he Republican (congressional) majority is lumpy. You have foreign policy聽Republicans, fiscal conservatives, social conservatives, tea party populists and one-issue Republicans 鈥� it鈥檚 not a smooth, coherent group.鈥� Republican takeover of the House raised questions about the President鈥檚 ability to get聽any legislation through the GOP-controlled lower house. But Scranton said she was聽more interested in how the new majority will wield other powers. 鈥淥ne thing that I haven’t heard mentioned much is Congress’ oversight function: the聽power to investigate not just program implementation and financial accountability but聽also to investigate alleged wrongdoing by individuals,鈥� Scranton said. 鈥淚t’s possible that聽the Republican majority in the House — which means having a Republican chairing聽every House committee and subcommittee — will be tempted to gain political advantage聽by initiating a variety of investigations of the Obama administration.鈥� The oversight power and responsibility can help find out what government programs are聽working and what fixes are needed to fix problems. But she said parties back in power聽after a time in the minority wilderness often are politically tempted to investigate real or聽imagined wrongdoing. Scranton, who teaches a spring semester course on the Clinton administration, said聽Republicans initiated House and Senate investigations, authorized a special prosecutor,聽and eventually brought impeachment charges against the 42nd president. As a result,聽the Democrat was re-elected to a second term and his popularity continued to grow聽during the impeachment process. 鈥淲hether these are merited or not, such investigations can consume vast amounts of聽administration officials’ time and resources as they prepare to testify and then appear聽before committee hearings,鈥� Scranton said. Said English: 鈥淚n 1994, the Republicans under (former Speaker Newt) Gingrich聽overreached their mandate. One would assume this new group will be smarter than聽that. But I don鈥檛 think congressional Republicans will want to give Obama anything he聽can take credit for, so that will become a positioning game. Repealing healthcare isn鈥檛聽going to happen. I think the veto pen will be used a lot in the 111th Congress.鈥� Both professors agreed the voters who went to the polls were frustrated. If the new聽Republican majority can鈥檛 make progress, another change might be in the works for聽2012. 鈥淕overning often has a sobering effect on folks who were campaigning on stuff that聽likely could not happen, and it will be interesting to see if work can be done which will be聽beneficial to easing the economic distress of so many Americans,鈥� English said. 鈥淩epublicans will now have to assume some of the responsibility for solving these聽problems and this, in itself, raises interesting questions,鈥� he said. 鈥淲ith government聽spending or additional stimulus seemingly off the table, what programs will be cut to take down spending? What will Democrats and Republicans be able to agree upon?鈥�