Mitch McConnell's Strategy To Confront Obama Hits A Wall [View all]

[herding cats]

Alternate title: Mitch McConnell and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Month

WASHINGTON — Before he became majority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) promised to use the power of the purse to rein in President Barack Obama.

Now McConnell's strategy is facing its first critical test, and it's failing.

Last week the Republican-led Senate voted three times in three days to move legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security with provisions overturning Obama's executive actions to protect millions from deportation. All three times, Democrats united to filibuster it, stopping it dead in its tracks, and leaving Republicans empty-handed.

The conundrum was somewhat predictable. McConnell had relinquished his only surefire leverage — to withhold funds to keep the government running — by promising there was "no possibility of a government shutdown" on his watch.

Without the threat of a shutdown, Democrats had little incentive to play ball, and Obama had no reason not to veto a bill that undermined his major initiatives. Complicating matters further for McConnell, Democrats are steeled by the recognition that voters typically blame the party that controls Congress, not the White House, for a government shutdown. And so Democrats didn't hesitate to filibuster the bill, and the president has been unwavering in his refusal to sign anything that irreparably harms his signature initiatives.

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Meanwhile, House Republicans have no intention of bringing up a "clean" DHS bill to bail out McConnell. Such a proposal would likely lose the support of a large majority of the House GOP, making it extremely difficult for Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), who clung to his post last month amidst record defections by his members.

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Of course, it's all the fault of the Democrats and their knee-jerk obstructionist tactics. It's not fair now that the shoe is on the other foot!