Norman Ornstein
Norman Ornstein
Norman J. Ornsteinis a political scientist and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington D.C. conservative think tank. He was the co-writerof It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEducator
CountryUnited States of America
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It was very significant two years ago when Greenspan endorsed the first Bush tax cut plan. So his basically lukewarm attitude now, saying that some of these ideas are good things in principle, but not at the expense of large deficits, has to weigh heavily on those moderate Republicans.
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It would have gone past us as just one of those moments where each side was teeing off against the other. But that event punctuated things, and I do think it made a difference in the coverage of the hearings.
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Everything that surrounded the K Street Project and what flowed from it all of that is under intense pressure.
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Even if the reality is, there's nothing more that he could have done back in Washington or anywhere else ... the symbol matters.
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Even those people in the leadership who've done commendable jobs may find themselves in the cross hairs just because it's possible there will be a more widespread desire for change.
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Congress as a whole needs to step back and look at the way it conducts its business. It's not just lobbyists influencing members of Congress, it's members of Congress shaking down lobbyists for money.
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There's no question that it will hurt him and it will hurt him significantly. He's still getting the solid support from his base. The question now is whether his performance with the hurricane begins to affect his performance with his base.
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That would have been a big plus for the president. You get the blame when you're the top dog. And in this case, I think there is no doubt that we had inadequate preparation and we've had inadequate response.
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Having a lot of time left as president is a good thing for him, because it gives him the opportunities and time to get out of some of these holes.
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But, after the terrible lapses that occurred here, they are going to be on the defensive, and the ability to push other things onto the agenda will be limited.
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My understanding is that now, after taking soundings, he's thinking about running for leader.
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Lots of members have been appalled at the kind of Gilded Age mentality of the party. Others felt like they had to take one for the team.
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Let's face it. When you're the governor of New York and even mentioned as a presidential candidate, you're going to be under an enormous microscope.
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When you have a dramatic expansion of the ability of individual members to direct federal funds or to designate contracts, you are creating the most fertile environment for corruption imaginable.