While New GOP Controlled Congress Abides by Constitution, Democrats and K-Street Lobbyists Hire Lawyers.

The Constitution of the United States - image: thisnation.com

On Wednesday, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA8), new Democrat Minority Leader, will hand over the Congressional gavel to to Speaker of the House, John Boehner (R-OH8), in a televised ceremony. (Middletown Journal) The Congress, under new GOP leadership, will be adhering to the document that defines the nation – The Constitution of the United States. In fact, the Congress will read the Constitution, a historical first, and all future bills must contain a statement by the bills’ author, citing constitutional authority. The Washington Post refers to the “back to basics” approach to governing as the “tea party-ization of Congress”. The biting commentary vis a vis the Tea Party, contained within a news article may be due to fact that the Post’s staff, notably, Ezra Kline finds that particular document difficult to understand. (The Constitution of the United States is available to read online at www.usconstitution.net, and although some of the language is “old English”, it should not be incomprehensible to an individual who should have, at the least, a few English language courses under one’s belt.)

Boehner, is going the extra mile, having his staff sworn in by Supreme Court, Chief Justice, John Roberts, a move, that is ceremonial, as Congressional aides, sign a “form” that includes the following language: “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.” (Politico) However, there is a bit more weight carried by reading an oath of defense of the nation laws rather than simply acknowledging their existence by signing a form.

The New Congress is set to work on reducing the budget and reforming the unpopular Health Care Reform Act. Appointments to the various Committees have been made, and incoming Chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Darrell Issa (R-CA49), will begin a series of investigations into waste and fraud. Specifically named in an article by the Washington Post is the fiasco over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac the government run lending groups closely aligned with the former Chair of the House Finance Committee, Barney Frank (D-MA4). To counteract any investigations, the House Democrats have hired David Rapallo as their attorney Rapallo a Democrat Staffer, will be joined by lobbying firm lawyers who are obviously concerned about Issa’s planned investigations.(Politico)

Apparently, when a group of duly elected Republican (and yes, Tea Party) Representatives of Congress, who intend to focus on the Constitution which regulates their positions and the nations laws (along with all branches of the government), the opposition gets a bit nervous. As well it should - those that feel the Constitution is to be interpreted and/or cast aside if need be, will now be faced with a group within the Congress that intends to abide by the august Document. One might find C-Span’s ratings spike over the next few months.

Side notes: The President has actually been studying up on former President Ronald Reagan in order to cope with the 112th Congress (Bloomberg).

With Obama’s seeming attempt to “move to the middle, an article from Canada’s Star speaks to the difficulties Obama may face as the progressives attempt to block any moves he may make to the middle by running an opposition candidate in 2012. The article goes on to note that those incumbents who faced challengers from within their own parties, specifically Jimmy Carter, (whose actions and policies Obama has appeared to mimic for the past two years), who lost to Ronald Reagan.

From the Star: :

Four years later, Carter was the one in trouble. The inflation rate was even higher — as Americans endured the new phenomenon of “stagflation,” whereby prices rose even as the economy flagged. Carter was a weak leader, urging Americans to adjust to limits. Conservatives hated him for this defeatism. Liberals hated him because they considered him the most conservative Democrat since Grover Cleveland, pushing to deregulate the economy and balance the budget.
Carter’s standing with party regulars and liberals sank so low that the crown prince of the Democratic Party, senator Ted Kennedy, decided to run for the nomination. Kennedy’s candidacy was ill-fated. When a sympathetic interviewer, Roger Mudd, asked why he was running, Kennedy rambled. When radical Islamist students overran the American embassy and held 52 diplomats hostage in November 1979, just as the nomination campaign was starting, Americans initially rallied around their president in an instinctive patriotic reaction.
Eventually, Kennedy found his footing, winning the important New York primary. Kennedy failed to win the Democratic nomination, but at the party’s national convention he upstaged Carter. Kennedy’s passionate endorsement of the welfare state, vowing “the dream shall never die” in a speech that became an instant classic, captured Democratic hearts. At the same time, it helped Carter’s general election opponent, Ronald Reagan, define Carter as yet another liberal to a nation increasingly fed up with liberalism’s failures.

Eerily familiar.