CR Nation

Gary Bauer says Barack Obama wants to be John McCain. As one song puts it, “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing, Baby.” Bauer puts it this way (love the Coburn quote at the end).

Since ascending to the U.S. Senate, Obama’s alleged aisle-crossing has been even harder to detect. In fact, Obama has proved the most dependably left-wing member of the Senate, according to the rankings of National Journal, which noted that in 2007, “Obama voted the liberal position on 65 of the 66 key votes.”

Obama has occasionally shown some bipartisan inclinations. But voting to provide combat gear for troops in harm’s way and expressing possible support for merit pay for public school teachers hardly sets him apart. As columnist Charles Krauthammer jabbed, “bipartisan support for apple pie is hardly a profile in courage.” And though his teaming with Republican Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) to pass ethics reform legislation is commendable, the bill was so popular that it passed the Senate 98-2.Barack Obama claims that as president, he would place principle ahead of politics, but he has rarely, if ever, taken a position that hurt him politically. Even Obama’s friend Coburn has said, “It’s easy to work across the aisle on consensus items. It’s when you demonstrate that you’ll stand in between, in no man’s land, between the two trenches of the Democratic and Republican base, and you’ll take the heat. We haven’t seen that from Barack. As much as I like him, he’s not ever rejected anything of his party to be able to stand in the middle.”

Is Tom Coburn.

This one comes from a concerned BYU College Republican:

…there seems to be a habitual disconnect between what Utahn Republicans want and what their elected representatives in D.C. fight for.

I agree. How many more election cycles will the Party have to lose before it learns its lesson that to win as Republicans, voters expect you to govern as one?

In that vein, an article published in the WSJ today by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) seems appropriate.

The article is titled, Republicans Are in Denial strikes a breath takingly simple, yet oddly logical cord: to turn the Republican Party around, to prevent loss and achieve victory all that must be done is: act like Republicans.

Sen. Coburn states:

Many Republicans are waiting for a consultant or party elder to come down from the mountain and, in Moses-like fashion, deliver an agenda and talking points on stone tablets. But the burning bush, so to speak, is delivering a blindingly simple message: Behave like Republicans.

Unfortunately, too many in our party are not yet ready to return to the path of limited government. Instead, we are being told our message must be deficient because, after all, we should be winning in certain areas just by being Republicans. Yet being a Republican isn’t good enough anymore. Voters are tired of buying a GOP package and finding a big-government liberal agenda inside. What we need is not new advertising, but truth in advertising.

Becoming Republicans again will require us to come to grips with what has ailed our party – namely, the triumph of big-government Republicanism and failed experiments like the K Street Project and “compassionate conservatism.” If the goal of the K Street Project was to earmark and fund raise our way to a filibuster-proof “governing” majority, the goal of “compassionate conservatism” was to spend our way to a governing majority.

The fruit of these efforts is not the hoped-for Republican governing majority, but the real prospect of a filibuster-proof Democrat majority in 2009. While the K Street Project decimated our brand as the party of reform and limited government, compassionate conservatism convinced the American people to elect the party that was truly skilled at activist government: the Democrats…

…Regaining our brand as the party of fiscal discipline will require us to rejoin Americans in the real world of budget choices and priorities, and to leave behind the fantasyland of borrowing without limits. Instead of adopting earmarks, each Republican can adopt examples of government waste, largess and fraud, and restart the permanent campaign against big government.

Republicans can tear up the “emergency spending” credit card and refuse to accept any new spending whatsoever, including for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, until Congress does its job of eliminating wasteful spending. The federal budget contains a vast unexplored area of offsets. My office alone has identified $300 billion in annual waste. Borrowing from the next generation when we haven’t done our job of oversight is unconscionable.

Regaining our brand is not about “messaging.” It’s about action. It’s about courage. It’s about priorities. Most of all, it’s about being willing to give up our political careers so our grandkids don’t have to grow up in a debtor’s prison, or a world in which other nations can tell a weakened and bankrupt America where we can and can’t defend liberty, pursue terrorists, or show compassion.

Lace provides us with the list of potential vice-presidential candidates. Upcoming posts will deal with why Senator McCain should pick Governor Crist(my choice of the three), Governor Romney, or Governor Jindal. But I want to look at the other candidates that may be under consideration. There are some stipulations. First, the candidate cannot be a current Bush Administration official(due to the Democrats’ howls if someone resigned from their job or tried to stay on and campaign). The candidate must be born after 1943. The candidate must be a Republican(sorry, I love Joe Lieberman too, but then you’d have to consider Michael Bloomberg and that is something I want to avoid). The candidate must be either a current or former governor, U.S. Senator, Member of Congress, or Cabinet-rank official(sorry Michael Steele fans). I didn’t mention any senators, but Sen. Coburn, Sen.DeMint, Sen. Burr, and Sen. Thune would be good.

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. Huck brings advantages to the ticket-he’s affable, likable, and charming. His support for the FairTax is spot-on and admirable. He did a great job improving Arkansas roads(what’s Senator Obama done for transportation?) and is a strong pro-life and traditional marriage supporter who could turn out weary social conservatives to the polls. But there are downsides. Huckabee has a troublesome record on tax and spending issues that would burden Senator McCain’s efforts to reach out to fiscal conservatives like the Club for Growth, who tried to stop Governor Huckabee’s candidacy with all its might.  He has a penchant for gaffes, especially with foriegn policy issues. His connections to pastors under congressional investigation would surely bring headaches the McCain campaign wouldn’t need, as would the old charges of gifts recieved and not reported when he was governor. So there’s a lot to consider if he’s the guy.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. T-Paw  has some downsides, such as his views on climate change, controversies over transportation, and the cigarette tax hike. But overall, he’s done a good job of growing jobs in Minnesota, holding the line on spending, passed tort reform, lowered the tax burden on Minnesotans, pushed for strong trade relations with other countries(which helps with reaching out to farmers), and passed tough crime legislation cracking down on meth and putting more State Troopers on the road and forensic scientists in the labs. Would help McCain on domestic issues and could swing Minnesota and other Upper Midwest states.

Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. .  His strong record on spending restraint, economic growth, market-friendly health care reform, and good steward of the environment put him on the list. His business background would be a plus, as would his experience in the Reagan and both Bush White Houses. He doesn’t have the political or foriegn policy problems Romney presents. However, he comes from a deep-red state and is running for re-election. That should keep him off the ticket in 2008.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels-See above and add controversies over daylight savings time and lease of the Indiana Toll Road. He will face a tough re-election fight unlike Huntsman and is also from a deep-red state. His budget expertise is bar none as the former OMB director, but Senator McCain should not put Governor Daniels on the ticket.

Former OMB Director and Ohio Congressman Rob Portman-Portman has a strong expertise on economic and fiscal matters going back to his days in the Bush 41 White House. He has a strong conservative record on virtually every issue and his time as White House trade representative gives him gravitas on international issues. Some conservatives might be concerned for his support of the Bush 41 tax hike, but he supported the Bush 43 tax cuts. He is popular in Ohio, which is essential to winning the White House. McCain would have to fight the Democrats’ efforts to demagogue his service under President Bush, but he would be a great pick.

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour-His record as White House Political Director, RNC Chair, and Governor are storied. He is a great budget-cutter,pro-lifer, tort-reformer, and his response to Hurricane Katrina showed his excellent leadership skills. But the pundits would make hay out of his lobbying career, painting him as cozy with Big Tobacco and Big Pharma, undercutting Senator McCain’s reformer image. That’s too bad, because he would be a great veep.

Former Congressman John Kasich-A good conservative who’s been out of politics awhile. Look for a statewide run instead.

Former Congressman J.C. Watts-See above.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin-She’s accomplished ethics reform,fought for more energy exploration, and held the line on spending. But she is needed in Alaska. She will be a national figure, but not yet.

Congressman Eric Cantor-The chief deputy whip in the House is a strong conservative across the board and would help in Virginia. He would also bolster efforts to reach Jewish voters as the only Jewish House Republican. Cantor would probably turn down the job because of aspirations to lead the House one day.

Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn-She’s a strong conservative woman from the South and one of our favorites down here in Tennessee. Blackburn worked against Governor Sundquist’s state income tax and has fought for lower taxes, less spending, and strong families in the House.

Congressman Paul Ryan-The only other contender born in the 1970’s, Congressman Ryan is a lion at the tender age of 38. In Congress he’s sounded the alarm for entitlement and budget reform as the top Republican on the Budget Committee. A pro-lifer,he’s a strong supporter of market solutions in health-care and education as well. Ryan would put Wisconsin in play and energize conservatives.

There’s the rundown. Thoughts and comments?

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) has written a very interesting article in which is urges movement towards a culture of oversight and away from a culture of parochialism.

Real change is not shifting earmarks from Republicans to Democrats, but is in getting rid of earmarks (and their corrupting effect) all together.

Bits and pieces of Sen. Coburn’s article are published below. To read the entire article, click here.

For more than a decade, conventional wisdom in Washington has said that government spending can’t be reduced in any meaningful way. Congress’ reactions to our lagging economy have once again shown how quick fixes and the short-term politics of crisis rule the day…

…parochialism – is dominated by politicians who have exchanged their oath to the Constitution for an oath to careerism, the philosophy of governing to win the next election above all else.

In the parochial Congress, which has prevailed since the early 1990s, members are supposed to compete against one another for earmarks. While politicians like to depict the states or districts they represent as “winners” in this process the fact is every state and every taxpayer lose.

For every allegedly worthwhile earmark in one state, taxpayers finance wasteful projects in 49 other states. The system is not designed to serve local communities, but to allow politicians to take political credit for spending your money.

In the other culture – the culture of oversight – the effective legislator is not the one who brings money back to their state but the one who keeps dollars from leaving their state in the first place.

In this culture, politicians serve local interest by protecting the national interest. Politicians don’t look for new ways to take credit for new projects. Instead, they do the hard work of making sure programs that are already up and running work as intended…

…For instance, in 2007, members of Congress requested nearly 32,000 earmarks. Of those requests, 12,000 received funding. Yet, for every oversight hearing held by the House and Senate Appropriations Committee, the committee processed nearly a thousand earmarks.

Congress’ lack of oversight is a major cause of the more than $300 billion in annual waste in government, which is about ten percent of our entire budget (the actual amount of our annual waste is probably much higher).

In terms of scope, $300 billion could pay for the annual costs of our missions in Iraq and Afghanistan more than two times over. Our $300 billion in annual waste also exceeds the Gross Domestic Products of 85 percent of all nations on earth, including Israel, Ireland and Finland.