This blog continues the discussion we began with Epic Journey: The 2008 Elections and American Politics (Rowman and Littlefield, 2009).The next book in this series is The Comeback: the 2024 Elections and American Politics (Bloomsbury, 2025).
YG Network — a non-profit 501(c)(4) dedicated to broadening the Young Guns movement by promoting next-generation conservative policies —today released “Aloha!,” a web video highlighting the ways in which Obamacare is harming American families, as well as Obama’s out-of-touch style of leadership. The ad comes as Obama continues his lengthy Hawaiian vacation, during which Fox News reports that “there’s no escaping the buffeting winds of troubled state health insurance exchanges,” including the “botched roll-out of the ObamaCare state exchange in Hawaii.”
“Aloha!” is posted at www.ObamacareWipeOut.com, and YG Network is delivering its message to Americans in Hawaii and the Washington, D.C. area with a significant five-figure online campaign, which includes YouTube pre-roll, promoted Tweets and Facebook posts, and display ads on highly-trafficked websites such as the Honolulu Star-Advertiser
If Republicans win the House in November, John Boehner and his top lieutenants say they’re ready to spread the power.
Look for a return of committee influence in preparing legislation — re-establishing the authority of diminished chairmen — and an easing of the hammerlock that leaders of both parties have exercised.
They make clear that they plan not only to change the top-down management style of Speaker Nancy Pelosi but also to pare back the excesses and power plays that occurred during the 12 years of Republican control under Newt Gingrich, Dennis Hastert and Tom DeLay.
“We will restructure the House,” said Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). “We will empower the public. We will have more open debate.”
Yet Boehner would be different from the past three speakers in that he is a former chairman — he held the Education and Workforce Committee gavel for five years — so he would come to the speaker’s office with a more sympathetic view of the traditional authority of committee chairmen.
Several factors are pressing to make the House more open. Committee leaders and rank-and-file members in both parties have been chafing under the leadership dominance that increasingly has ruled the House since Democrats lost their majority in 1994. That pressure will be reinforced by a rambunctious Republican freshman class that could exceed 60 members if the GOP takes control.
