Politics

politics

GOP Hopes for Better Year in 2006

By Paul Strand
Capitol Hill Correspondent

CBN.com – WASHINGTON - The White House is hoping this New Year will be a whole lot better than 2005. It seemed like the Bush administration was trying to put out fire after fire.

CBN News takes a look ahead to what could amount to another challenging year for the President.

Remember Inauguration Day 2005? Full of promise, full of hope.

The President was riding high a year ago, steam rolling into a second term and ready to spend that 'political capital' we heard so much about. But that was then. This is now. January 2006 and it sure doesn't have that same feel.

Far from it. The list of what went wrong is too numerous to mention. But suffice it to say, a legislative loss on Social Security didn't help.

Neither did a stronger than expected insurgency in Iraq. And the President's right hand man Karl Rove was under the suspicion of indictment all year. It led to the President's lowest poll numbers ever.

Then at the end of the year, questions came up about the President's orders after 9/11 to eavesdrop on people within the United States. But his friends on Capitol Hill, like influential Republican Congressman Mike Pence (IN) say don't count him out yet.

"I really believe that President George W. Bush is a fighter, a man of integrity. I think he is respected and admired here on Capitol Hill," said Rep. Pence.

Indeed, his poll numbers have started to rise again, but the question really is, just how much can President Bush get done on Capitol Hill before lame duck status sets in?

Sensing a wakened President, Republican moderates bucked their own party on a ‘get tough’ spending bill. Will the party stick together on this in 2006?

"It's been challenging, at times, among our own colleagues,” admitted Rep. Pence, “to talk about what our new priorities should be, in the wake of Katrina. But I do believe that, at the end of the day, the American people will see this Congress renew its commitment to limited government and fiscal discipline, and make the hard choices, even during hard times, that are necessary to put our fiscal house in order."

Conservative critics of the President say fiscal discipline is not one of his strong points. That spending has increased dramatically under his watch. Phil Kerpen is with the Free Enterprise Fund.

Kerpen stated, "If we don't do something about this, the government is going to triple in size over the next 30 or 40 years, and we're going to have a real crisis in this country."

The President has not vetoed a spending bill yet. For that matter, he has not vetoed any bill. Pence thinks that will change.

"The threat of a veto by this President, I think, will be very real in 2006," Rep. Pence predicted.

While spending will be important, extending the President's tax cuts permanently will also be key.

Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman knows that the Democrats will fight on this. CBN News sat down with him at the RNC's Washington studios.

Mehlman told us, "There are a lot of folks on the other side of the aisle, a lot of Democrats, who say we care about families, but they want to take more families' money because they won't make the Bush tax cuts permanent. Seems to me that you can't say you're pro-family, you're pro-working person, if you don't respect how hard they work and you don't respect the fruit of their labor."

Mehlman says the tax cuts have led to a much improved economy, but Democrats tried to downplay any positive economic news. Will the President win the spin game in 2006?

CBN News asked Mehlman, "There have been critics of the President within his party who say they need to trump up these economic numbers and to explain to the American people that the economy is doing well. Was he slow on the uptake there?

Mehlman replied, “Well, I think that we have been doing that, and he'll certainly continue to do it and do it a bit more."

The President's biggest legislative battle will not be on tax cuts or the economy. Instead, it will be on illegal immigration. The White House will push a controversial guest worker program that essentially allows illegal workers to stay in the country six years before having to re-apply legally.

That has led to dissension within his own party, led by Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO).

"I am a loyal Republican, and I support the President on most of his positions,” Rep. Tancredo remarked, "but I have a much higher loyalty, and that's to the country and the Constitution."

It will be a challenge for Bush to try and bring his party together on such a contentious issue. And speaking of contentious issues, the war in Iraq will be at the epicenter of it all.

Americans seem divided on what to do next and Democrats in Congress are determined to capitalize on some of that dissatisfaction, by criticizing the Republican-led war effort. It may backfire, come the midterm elections in 2006.

Mehlman said, "I think that, once again, what you're seeing, unfortunately, is a lot of Democrat leaders, not all of them, certainly not Joe Lieberman (D-CT) -- but you're seeing too many Democrat leaders playing politics with this war on terror. And I think that will hurt them every day of the week."

That may be a risk for Democrats, but the challenges for the President will be within his own party, trying to keep the GOP unified as much as possible.

Congressman Pence has talked to Bush about how to handle the GOP caucus.

"My consistent advice to the President is always to engage personally on Capitol Hill," Rep. Pence said.

In other words, do not be detached, come visit. It has been a criticism of this President before, that he lives in a bubble and is not getting the best advice from a staff that may be overworked and burnt out.

It has led to speculation that there may be changes on the way.

When asked if it is time for new blood in the White House, Mehlman responded, “The President is not someone who keeps his head in the sand. He pays attention, and when he believes there needs to be change, there's big change. But he's certainly not going to take his cues from The New York Times and The Washington Post. He's not going to take his cues from critics who I don't think want the best for him, necessarily."

That includes media critics, Democratic critics, and yes, even critics in his own party. These are shark-infested waters, no doubt, and the dangerous swimming is about to start.

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