The Shotgun Approach - The New Politics

Want an idea of what Obama is working on with his infamous $410,000,000,000 budget?

• The wealthiest 5 percent would pay a whopping $1 trillion in higher taxes over the next decade, while most others would get tax cuts.
• Industries would buy and trade permits to emit heat-trapping gases.
• Higher-income older people would pay more for government health insurance benefits.
• Drug companies would receive smaller profits from the government.
• Banks would play a much smaller role in student loans.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/02/28/obamas-massive-budget-faces-high-hurdles-congress/

These are just the highlights of what he is wanting to do. The point of the Fox News story highlighted above is that Obama faces huge hurdles trying to get these to pass. They say that any one of these is a political hotbed and would face huge opposition from the political right.

So the question is, why would he try so many expensive, radical, far-left programs at one time?

It's simple military tactics. Overwhelm the opposition and they can't fight all of the battles. This administration is not interested in working with those "across the isle". He wants his legislation passed, and the best way to do that is to overwhelm them. It does this in two significant ways.

Presenting many plans at once breaks down the simple message that the opposition will want to get out to the people. If they come out with a laundry list of things that they have a problem with in the budget, as opposed to one great problem, they will be seen as playing the same old partisan politics.

Throwing many ideas at once also breaks down their ability to fight all of them. Much like a literal shotgun, you might be able to dodge one bullet or maybe two, but you can't dodge a spray of shotgun pellets. Some of them are going to get you. In the same way, some of these outrageous propositions will pass just by the sheer fact that the few conservatives in Congress can't fight them all, much less even learn about them before the left insists on their votes.

This is passing legislation by default, not by consensus. You should be livid about this because you are not getting a chance to be represented. A majority of the people are against these provisions that Obama is proposing, but we are not going to get a voice because he is going to push this through before we even get a chance to read it, consider it, and forecast the end result.

He was right. It's not politics as usual with Obama in office. It's Chicago politics. Shotgun politics.

Please get involved before it's too late. Call your State Representatives and give them the support they need to fight everything they can. They need us to tell them we are on their side, and we need them to be on ours.

The Ericator