By Pat Stacey
President Barack Obama has reached across the political
aisle and requested that Congress give him the authority to reduce the size of
government.
Specifically, the president
wants to consolidate the Department of Commerce and several other government
agencies in the name of efficiency and expense reduction.
Outside of the recent military cuts, this is
one of the largest moves so far by the president to truly cut government
spending and it is possibly the most visible.
So what could the motivation be behind this blatant conservative-style
move? It looks like there are a load of
political overtones as the President tries to appear to be the fiscal watchdog,
ready to make a change and it possibly puts the conservative congressional leadership
in a bad light if they don't embrace this request.
The president can use this to his political
advantage either way by winning moderate voters and even some conservatives
that aren't interested Mitt Romney or it makes the republicans look bad because
they won't compromise to get something they supposedly want.
Either way there is political capital at
stake.
Yes the Washington, D. C. governing
machine grinds to a halt as every action by both parties becomes a calculated
political chess move and it is many times not in the best interest of the
country. But this consolidation move,
regardless of the motives, is good for streamlining government and that is
something we need more of and it will make for a Better East Texas.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2012 WorldNow and KLTV, a Raycom Media Station.
