Presidents have very little real power in domestic legislation. Selling his party’s agenda is a president’s primary domestic function. Obama saw himself as Super Salesman extraordinaire although he gave away tax dollars rather than sell anything to the American people.
CORRECTION: Obama did win one sales award:
Appointing federal judges, ambassadors, bureaucrats, etc. is pretty much the extent of a president’s domestic authority. Proof: Congressional leaders along with the screwiest federal judges have more authority than the president. In plain English, there is no such thing as an imperial president. On the other hand, long-serving senators are truly imperial. I know of no modern president that exercised as much authority as did the late Ted Kennedy.
It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones. Calvin Coolidge
The veto is a presidential tool. Twentieth century presidents almost never vetoed so-called bipartisan legislation. I am talking about vetoes that have a major influence for decades —— not insignificant stuff like appropriation bills. Example: Truman vetoed Taft-Hartley. That was the most significant veto in my lifetime —— and Congress overrode it.
NOTE: Vetoing the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007 was Bush the Younger’s most important veto.
My point. President Trump can veto healthcare dung that is working its way through Congress. He will not. A veto will lay the blame for socialized-medicine-lite on Congress. That will not happen. Trump blaming Congress is akin to the top salesman in a corporation blaming management for a putting a dangerous product on the market.
NOTE: The CEO in almost every major corporation came up through sales. It is no wonder that presidents must also be salesmen.
So exactly what is media chatter all about? Answer: SPIN the truth. A Republican Congress will not repeal Obamacare regardless of Trump’s campaign promise. Forget the fact that a majority of the American people want Hillarycare II repealed. Spin the horseshit in such a way that Congress and President Trump bit the bullet and demonstrated Profiles in Courage.
Incidentally, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell will not send up a repeal bill more inclusive than the one Obama vetoed in 2016:
President Obama vetoed a bill Friday aimed at repealing his signature health care law.
Jan 8 2016, 4:22 pm ET
President Obama Vetoes Health Care Repeal Bill
Obama Vetoes Health Care Repeal Bill
President Obama Vetoes Health Care Repeal Bill
Obama Vetoes Health Care Repeal Bill
If they were not such a pack hyenas in Congress they would write a repeal bill in one sentence: Effective immediately the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is repealed. After all, Republicans have been shouting “REPEAL” since 2010. Now they have the muscle to do it. Instead of repeal they are running for the tall grass.
After much huffing and puffing in the unlikely event President Trump does veto socialized-medicine-lite a sigh of relief will be heard in the halls of power when media announces “They fought the good fight, but they could not muster enough votes to override Trump’s veto.”
Parenthetically, members of Congress love presidents as long as they sell Congress’ product. Democrats and Republicans alike never had to stand up to the president when he was selling for them. If you doubt me look at the things Congress and presidents did to this country since the LBJ years. (Obama is being considered for a spot on Mount Rushmore for the things he did against Americans.)
Frankly, Trump’s support for Paul Ryan’s non-repeal efforts tells me that he, Trump, fell in with Washington jackals a month after he arrived. None of them want the American people working for themselves:
I want the people of America to be able to work less for the government and more for themselves. I want them to have the rewards of their own industry.
That is the chief meaning of freedom. Until we can re-establish a condition under which the earnings of the people can be kept by the people, we are bound to suffer a very distinct curtailment of our liberty. Calvin Coolidge
That is the chief meaning of freedom. Until we can re-establish a condition under which the earnings of the people can be kept by the people, we are bound to suffer a very distinct curtailment of our liberty. Calvin Coolidge
Finally, Republicans made damn sure they did not do socialized-medicine-lite until after death panels were safe:
Unless Obamacare is struck down in its entirety, IPAB will remain.
With the possible exception of the individual mandate, the most pernicious contrivance of Obamacare is the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), the fifteen-member committee whose purpose is to ration health care to seniors by manipulating Medicare payment rates. Before the advent of Obamacare, only Congress had the power to make changes to Medicare's reimbursement scheme. Now, unless the Supreme Court strikes down the "reform" law in its entirety, that power will be transferred to the unaccountable political appointees of IPAB. The members of this death panel, as it has been appropriately dubbed, will be able to meddle with the fiscal machinery of Medicare without having to worry about the ire of the pesky electorate. IPAB is, for all intents and purposes, impossible to repeal.
As Clint Bolick of the Hoover Institution writes, "Under the statute, any bill to repeal IPAB must be introduced within the one-month period between January 1 and February 1, 2017. If introduced, it must be enacted by a three-fifths super-majority no later than August 15, 2017." These bizarre limits were obviously put in place by the Democrats to prevent any future Republican-controlled Congress from getting rid of IPAB. Thus, the fate of the death panel depends on how the Court rules on the constitutionality of Obamacare's individual mandate and whether the justices believe it is severable from the rest of the law. If the Court decides to invalidate the mandate and also rules that it is inseverable from the remaining provisions, IPAB will be struck down with the rest of Obamacare.
As Clint Bolick of the Hoover Institution writes, "Under the statute, any bill to repeal IPAB must be introduced within the one-month period between January 1 and February 1, 2017. If introduced, it must be enacted by a three-fifths super-majority no later than August 15, 2017." These bizarre limits were obviously put in place by the Democrats to prevent any future Republican-controlled Congress from getting rid of IPAB. Thus, the fate of the death panel depends on how the Court rules on the constitutionality of Obamacare's individual mandate and whether the justices believe it is severable from the rest of the law. If the Court decides to invalidate the mandate and also rules that it is inseverable from the remaining provisions, IPAB will be struck down with the rest of Obamacare.
Will the Supreme Court Let the Death Panel Stand?
By David Catron on 4.16.12 @ 6:09AM
Unless Obamacare is struck down in its entirety, IPAB will remain.
LF: Will the Supreme Court Let the Death Panel Stand?
By David Catron on 4.16.12 @ 6:09AM
Unless Obamacare is struck down in its entirety, IPAB will remain.
LF: Will the Supreme Court Let the Death Panel Stand?
The Entitlement Rose
