Pelosi, Reid Will Be Boon to GOP
By Ronald Kessler
NewsMax.com
Republicans should rejoice that Nancy
Pelosi and Harry Reid will likely remain the
Democratic leaders in Congress, Republican
strategist Brad Blakeman tells Newsmax.
“One of the best things that ever happened
to Republicans is Harry Reid continuing to
lead the Senate,” says Blakeman, who appears
regularly on Fox News and other networks.
“He’s so divisive. His acceptance speech was
not contrite or conciliatory; it was
combative.”
Pelosi, who is expected to be elected
minority leader in the House, will be an
even bigger lightning rod, says Blakeman, a
former Bush White House aide. Neither Reid
nor Pelosi got the message that the 2010
election results amounted to a rejection of
their agenda and President Barack Obama’s.
"They’re universally disliked by the
electorate as a whole, and if it’s the same
old, same old, then the American people are
going to see that,” Blakeman says. “Although
they voted a whole bunch of Democrats out,
the leadership of a very important part of
government remains in place.”
With Pelosi, “It is all about retaining
power,” Blakeman says. “The American people
rebuked Democratic leadership across the
board in the election. If she and her party
cannot realize that and accept that, then
there is no hope for their party.”
Like Pelosi and Reid, President Obama has
learned little from the 2010 election.
Instead of changing course, he has been
claiming he did not take the time to be
persuasive enough about the wisdom of his
policies.
“I don’t think that Obama is capable of
changing course,” Blakeman says. “Bill
Clinton is a political animal who understood
what he needed to do in order to have
accomplishments. I think as president, Obama
is such an ideologue that he will never
change.”
If Obama is disconnected from the election
results, he is also disconnected from
voters.
“John Boehner’s emotion when he spoke after
the election was heartfelt and real,”
Blakeman says of the expected new speaker of
the House. “Obama is devoid of any emotion.
He’s robotic and programmed.”
Americans are beginning to see through
Obama’s facade, Blakeman says.
“Here’s a guy who said that the hallmark of
his presidency would be bipartisanship and
transparency,” Blakeman says. “He hasn’t
delivered on any of those.”
As noted in the Newsmax story
Obama Widens His Credibility Gap,
his professed regret at the lack of
bipartisanship in Washington was for show.
“He called the Republicans enemies and
attacked tea party supporters,” Blakeman
says. “He also said, ‘We’re funding global
AIDS, and the other side is not.’ It’s the
American people who have given the money.
Not Obama, not the Democrats.
As a matter of fact, President Bush gave
more aid to Africa than any president in
American history. He credited the American
people with being so generous and
compassionate.”
The fact that Reid and Pelosi will continue
on the scene as a symbol of everything
voters dislike about the Obama agenda will
only goad Obama on, Blakeman predicts.
“Politicians who think that the electorate
is too dumb to appreciate all of the great
things they do for the people are the most
dangerous politicians because public opinion
means nothing to them,” Blakeman notes.
“They’re more concerned with their ideology
than with reelection.”
Ronald Kessler is chief Washington
correspondent of Newsmax.com. View his
previous reports and get his dispatches sent
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