Transitions

Washington is in transition — the traditional graceful, peaceful, seamless
transition of power between political parties. Though this is only a partial
transition of power, it is still awe-inspiring.

As President Obama famously said, “Elections have consequences.” And the
consequences of the last election are already becoming apparent. On Jan. 5,
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who made history in 2006 by becoming the first
woman to hold the Speaker’s office in American history, will stand at the podium
in the House chamber and graciously hand over the gavel to the new Speaker of
the House, John Boehner (R-Ohio) — despite the four years of relentless
personal attacks she has endured at the hands of her successor and his cohorts.

But even before this historic transition, the new majority is already flexing
its muscle. While the Speaker-to-be is insisting on a low-key transition, going
so far as the eschew any celebratory events and even saying that he will not
initiate a flurry of legislation at the start of the new Congress, it seems
that his newly minted committee chairmen didn’t get his memo.

New chairmen of the energy, health, oversight and other committees have vowed
to pursue an activist agenda to undermine the president’s historic achievements
in the last Congress and to use their new positions of power to cripple the
White House and the federal government. While Boehner plays message politics,
his top lieutenants plan partisan-motivated votes like the one on repealing
healthcare reform that could happen this week. Energy Chairman Fred Upton
(R-Mich.) promised “early action” to stop the Environmental Protection Agency
from setting standards to reduce harmful emissions pollution. Oversight
Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) promises to bury the White House in subpoenas
— essentially hampering its ability to take additional action to further spur
the gradual economic recovery we are seeing. And the new radicals who created
the Republican House majority are threatening to send the U.S. into default by
blocking action on raising the debt ceiling in a naïve attempt to control
federal spending.

As 2011 begins, public confidence in Congress is at an all-time low — even in
the newly elected Congress. Showdowns over healthcare, taxes, spending,
economic policy and the economy are looming. The president has shows signs of
willingness to compromise for the sake of progress. The House Republicans have
indicated nothing other than digging in their heels. What happens when these
two unstoppable forces meet will determine the fate of the Obama presidency.

Could 2011 be 1995 all over again — with the new majority grossly overreaching
and quickly burning through its political capital? Right now it is unclear.
Speaker-to-be Boehner has a difficult challenge on his hands. The radical
faction of his conference is showing signs that it will not take orders from
anyone with a fancy title and even fancier office space in the Capitol. For the
country’s sake, I hope the GOP drops its agenda of “No” and is serious about
working with our president to revive the economy, put Americans back to work
and secure our nation. If not, there could be another peaceful transition of
power in the House of Representatives in 2013.