Meanwhile, what about the Republican majority in Congress, now in office a little more than two weeks? For the most part, all we have heard from them, or at least what the news media are covering, are their attempts to pass a Keystone XL pipeline bill which the president vows to veto and their concerted efforts to cut funding in the Homeland Security budget to thwart Obama’s executive action on immigration. He intends to veto that, too, if it passes, which is not likely.
Although Republicans are huffing and puffing to rally parts of their base, in the end they are likely to lose both battles, making the president the winner.
Then, there is the increasingly messy and dangerous area of foreign policy. For the better part of the past 10 days, we have been inundated with news coverage of the Islamic terrorist shootings in Paris and their aftermath. Except for a brief flap about Obama not attending a solidarity march there by world leaders after the shootings, the U.S. president has not been at the center of most of those news stories. He assigned much of that heavy lifting to others in his administration, including Secretary of State John Kerry and Attorney General Eric Holder.
Even with the world seeming to be in chaos, the news media appear reluctant to clamor for the president to take a lead role. Republicans in Congress have been critical, but it is covered as just more partisan carping.
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