Saturday, January 31, 2009

Judd Gregg As Commerce Secretary - A Smooth Move By Obama

Republican Senator Judd Gregg is being considered for Commerce Secretary... a move that could put the Democrats in reach of a majority in the Senate. This is championship chess playing by Obama... If the Democrats would have played like this years ago we may not have had to endure 8 years of George W. Bush.

But I am pretty sure that the Republican leadership will instruct Gregg to turn it down... for strategic reasons. And like I mentioned a couple of weeks ago... the Republicans are very disciplined...they don't cave and they don't think for themselves... like obedient slaves, they stay in lock step with their leaders in Congress. The recent vote on the so-called "stimulus plan", where no Republicans voted for the legislation was a demonstration of the kind of Republican discipline I often mention here. So I fully expect Gregg to decline the offer. Even if he disobeys his Party leaders and accepts the position, there is no guarantee that Democrats will have a majority with no problems. It still won't be a true majority. There is always the problem of Joe Lie-berman... he may help the Republicans obstruct legislation. Or he may even be forced to switch Parties. I actually thought that Lieberman would have switched to Republican by now..... this development could force his hand.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I agree AI. Obama's pulling off the kind of Chicagonian politics that would make Al Capone jealous.

Sen. Gregg has got some major decisions to make. Even with the GOP opening up to Mike Steele and his prospective 50-state strategy, they've got a long way to go before New England embraces them. So it stands to reason that Gregg will be out of a job by 2010. That said, will he look out for his own interests by accepting a job that will likely take him well into the next decade or will he take one for the team, decline the gig, and likely get voted out of office in a couple of years? Dag! I'd hate to be him right now.

Obama's rook takes the GOP's Bishop. Up next, the queen.