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*** Editors Note: A new website launched this week explaining the reason why we need a Federal Balanced Budget Amendment. Please check it out here: FederalBalancedBudgetAmendment.com.

And now to Travis’ post …

As the Republican presidential primary continues, a theory exists among many conservatives that the establishment elements of the party—those Republicans in high positions of power who have played inside the beltway for years—have already ceded next year’s election to Obama. This is not to say they are intentionally sabotaging the party or that they want Obama to win, but that they have accepted it as inevitable and are trying to limit the losses that might spill over into other elections across the country. This theory holds that the establishment is trying to secure the election of a Republican nominee who might not be the most conservative candidate and who would lose the general election, but might have a wide enough appeal to help the GOP hold the House and gain the Senate, thus giving Republican congressmen some degree of power and also limiting the damage Obama can cause in his remaining years.

What the insiders are overlooking in this strategy is that gridlock will backfire on Republicans. The strategy has already been tried in the year since the GOP took control of the House, and Obama and his willing accomplices in the media have countered with blaming a “do-nothing Congress” for the country’s continued difficulties and Obama’s inability to fix the economy. They will certainly do the same thing if Republicans hold control of Congress through the first half of Obama’s second term, transforming the President into an embattled and sympathetic character, and possibly even creating an environment where Democrats are able to win back one or both houses in the midterm to reestablish the unrestrained power Obama enjoyed during the first two years of his presidency. Republicans are already taking a disproportionate amount of blame from the public, who are frustrated and looking for somebody to do something to improve the economy. Voters will not settle for government sitting on the sidelines, particularly when Democrats have already created an environment whereby lack of action means allowing things to continue to get worse.

On top of that, there is plenty of damage Obama can do even without any help from Congress. The executive branch still wields tremendous international powers which allows Obama to continue to alienate our allies, stir up instabilities in volatile regions, and issue harmful executive orders to sidestep Congress and further damage the nation. The Republican leadership in the House has already demonstrated they are only too willing to give in to Obama despite their mandate in the 2010 elections, and it remains a gamble as to whether or not they would have the backbone to oppose him where they must if he should win a second term.

The most unfortunate part of all of this is that surrendering the White House to Obama is completely unnecessary. Obama cannot escape his record in this election—one built entirely upon failures—and his popularity and approval numbers have experienced an almost-constant decline since he assumed office. With more than ten months remaining before the election, he will only continue to decline. Obama is facing the unenviable position of trying to defend his total lack of accomplishments, and there is still the possibility that the Supreme Court may yet strike down Obamacare.

It also cannot be overstated that the 2010 elections were primarily a refutation of Obama and his policies on the part of the American people.

It is important for Republicans to win the House and the Senate, but those things will come with a victory over Obama himself. If the GOP hopes to make any real progress in halting the destruction the Democrats have achieved in the past few years and getting the economy back on track, Republicans must win the White House. To prematurely surrender the presidency in the coming election is to surrender the country itself.

–Travis Sedars
Mason City, Iowa

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Hello, Republicans … are you there?

Robert Ringer — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 13:33:38 +0000

Is any Republican presidential candidate capable of removing Republican rivals from his crosshairs long enough to focus on Barack Obama’s lies, distortions, and hypocrisies? Don’t any of them think it’s noteworthy to point out that Obama, who excoriates Wall Street bankers seven days a week, is the biggest recipient of Wall Street contributions of any president in U.S. history?

Or how about Obama’s ripping Republicans for “stopping his jobs bill” in the Senate, even though the Senate is controlled by Democrats? Are they really going to let something so outrageous slide and assume that sleepwalking Americans know the truth?

Hello, Republicans … are you there? Going after Barack Obama is like shooting fish in a barrel. He’s like a walking ammunition store. It’s one thing that the media didn’t bother to vet him when he was running for president in 2008, but why in the world do Republicans still refuse to hammer home a plethora of lies, distortions, and hypocrisies?

When his taxpayer-funded bus tour stopped in Asheville, North Carolina on Sunday, Obama, sounding more like former Democratic Congressman and maniac Alan Grayson than the great uniter he was billed to be, shouted that the Republican jobs plan — “Real American Jobs Act” — “boils down to a few basic ideas: They want to gut regulations. They want to let Wall Street do whatever it wants. They want to drill more. And they want to repeal healthcare reform.”

Voters are still looking for the Republican candidate who has the courage to step front and center and say: “Yes, we want to gut regulations. No, we don’t want to let Wall Street do whatever it wants. Yes, we want to drill more. And, yes, we want to repeal Obamacare.”

Let’s hope he emerges in tonight’s debate.

ROBERT RINGER is a New York Times #1 bestselling author and host of the highly acclaimed Liberty Education Interview Series, which features interviews with top political, economic, and social leaders. He has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business, The Tonight Show, Today, The Dennis Miller Show, Good Morning America, The Lars Larson Show, ABC Nightline, and The Charlie Rose Show, and has been the subject of feature articles in such major publications as Time, People, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Barron’s, and The New York Times.

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