James G. Wiles, in the Philadelphia Bulletin, asks “what would Rahm Emanuel do if he had Congressman John Boehner’s job as House Minority Leader?”
That’s easy. Put as many long-range torpedoes into the water aimed at Senator Obama’s ship of state before Republicans lose control of the Executive Branch as possible. Here are a few:
Appoint U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Patrick Fitzpatrick as a special prosecutor so he can pursue his investigation of Tony Rezko and his corrupt dealings with Illinois’s governor and other creatures and spoilsmen of the Daley Machine. This will make it politically difficult for a President Obama to pardon Mr. Rezko and impossible for him to terminate Mr. Fitzpatrick as a federal officer come January 21 as a way of de-railing this investigation.
Appoint a special prosecutor to investigate ACORN’s voter registration methods and its dealings with the Obama campaign.
Appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the Obama campaign’s on-line fundraising operation, including its disabling of the credit card security software on its on-line donations system. File a complaint with the Federal Election Commission regarding same.
Appoint a bipartisan (love that word!) presidential commission to review the candidates’ fundraising in this election cycle and to recommend changes in federal election laws.
File ethics complaints against Sen. Chris Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank for their relationship with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Countrywide Mortgage.
Be it noted that, in his day, this is probably what Newt Gingrich would have done, too. It was then-Congressman Gingrich’s persistent filing of ethics complaints against then-House Speaker Jim Wright, D Texas, which eventually brought Speaker Wright down and made possible the Republicans’ re-taking of Congress in 1994 on the platform of the Contract with America.
Who needs a honeymoon anyway? Not Rahm Emanuel.
Too bad George W. Bush is likely to do none of the above.
T F Stern
The Republicans along with GWB threw in the towel long ago, about the same time they had their back bones and “onions” removed if my calculations are correct.
Sallie Parker
Yeah, but the issue is what should Boehner do. So if you want this stuff done, you should write the Hon. John Boehner, Washington DC 20015 (if memory serves) and start beating the drum. Gawd knows he ain’t got nothing to lose and a whole world to gain.
David
Who knows what anyone would do with your counterfactual under the circumstances. With all economic problems we face, it would be patriotic for the Republicans to try to work with the Democrats and the Obama administration to try to fix that first before beginning to undermine the ability of the Democrats to govern. Nah. Why think of the nation at a time like this.
Sallie Parker
Point taken: no excuse for Boehner to be a sleaze just because the other side would be. But Boehner played that game of noble bipartisanship and patriotism back in September, and got nothing but rants and sneers from Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank. Now it appears that the whole bailout “crisis” may well have been nothing more than a trumped-up event to generate panic and reverse McCain’s lead in the polls. So John Boehner might be little less cooperative this time around…
Dai Alanye
The Repubs again and again make the mistake of being gentlemen when faced with the thuggish tactics typical of the Dems. Wiles’ suggestions are all good politics, and good–in the long run–for the nation.
Think about it. The policies of Obama/Pelosi/Frank/Reid/et al are hardly likely to repair the economy but more likely to extend the recession into a depression. Anything obstacles we can put in their way are for the ultimate good of the U S.
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