Obama must win GOP support to succeed, analyst at YSU says

By Don Shilling

YOUNGSTOWN — A political observer hopes the “second wave” of the Barack Obama presidency will carry him back to his campaign promises to reign in spending and govern in a bipartisan manner.

David Kozak, professor of public policy at Gannon University, said Tuesday that Obama so far has been entrenched in efforts to revive the economy. The early agenda has been rescuing banks and automakers and fighting the recession with massive stimulus spending.

Kozak, who was at Youngstown State University as part of the business school’s Williamson Symposium, closely watches presidential elections and has been at all of the Democratic and Republican nominating conventions since 1984.

Kozak said past precedent indicates that Obama will not be able to push forward on other parts of his agenda — such as health care reform — without Republican support. He attributed President Bill Clinton’s failed efforts at health care reform and President George W. Bush’s failed attempt at Social Security reform on their reluctance to include voices form the opposition party.

Obama has had limited success in incorporating Republicans into his administration despite campaigning on the need for bipartisan efforts, Kozak said. Obama’s secretary of defense is Robert Gates, who was first appointed to the position by President George W. Bush in 2006.

Kozak said John F. Kennedy named prominent Republicans to his Cabinet.

He suggested that Obama name a circle of senior advisers who have experience in working with previous administrations. Republicans could include former Sen. Bob Dole and Ken Duberstein, former chief of staff for President Ronald Reagan.

Kozak added that he thinks the Democrats need new congressional leaders. The current ones, such as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, originally ascended in party leadership because of their skills at attacking Republicans, he said. Now that Democrats are in control, their leaders should be skilled at building consensus so they can push through their agenda, he said.

One problem with that effort, however, is that Congress has become polarized, he said. Congressional districts are becoming increasingly extreme in one political leaning or the other, he said.

“There are no moderates anymore,” he said.

Kozak also said that the refocusing of the Obama presidency also must include fiscal restraint, which Obama talked about as a candidate. The stimulus spending will push the federal deficit to more than $1 trillion and the national debt to $11 trillion.

Payments to service that debt will soon reach 10 percent to 12 percent of the federal budget, which is a lot of money that can’t be spent on programs such as health care, Kozak said.

He said he hopes Obama can include Republicans in an effort to take a serious look at federal spending with a line-by-line review of the budget.

Lately, however, the government has moved away from reflection and debate as it rushed to rescue banks and stimulate the economy, he said.

“We’re moving very fast. That’s how mistakes are made,” he said.

One large problem in federal spending are omnibus bills that cover a wide range of topics and are larger than metropolitan phone books, Kozak said. The bills are so large and complex that no one person probably knows everything that is included, he said.

He said the government needs to return to the practice of introducing individual pieces of legislation into the House and Senate and letting committees hash out the necessity of the proposals.

shilling@vindy.com