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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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 OPINION 
4

Conservatives Must 'Obstruct and Delay' Obama: Kristol

GOP can check rush toward big government

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(Newser) – The “day of reckoning” has come for Republicans, writes William Kristol in the Washington Post. On Tuesday, President Obama delivered “the most unabashedly liberal and big-government speech” since Lyndon Johnson, and seems poised to undo the whole Reagan agenda. “Conservatives can’t win politically right now,” says Kristol. Their only hope is to “find reasons to obstruct and delay” Obama’s agenda.

Republicans “can’t allow Obama to make of 2009 what Franklin Roosevelt made of 1933 or Johnson of 1965,” Kristol argues. If they can raise doubts, pick their battles, and break Obama’s momentum, they can get a fair hearing for arguments against “big government, liberal-nanny-state social engineering.” Otherwise, they’ll be “reduced to the unpleasant role of bystanders or the unattractive status of complainers, as Barack Obama makes history.”

President Barack Obama speaks at the White House yesterday after an economic meeting.
President Barack Obama speaks at the White House yesterday after an economic meeting.   (AP Photo)
President Barack Obama has momentum on his side, William Kristol writes, but congressional Republicans can still stall his efforts at transforming the role of the federal government.
President Barack Obama has momentum on his side, William Kristol writes, but congressional Republicans can still stall his efforts at transforming the role of the federal government.   (AP Photo)
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Obama's speech reminds of Ronald Reagan's in 1981 in its intention to reshape the American political landscape. But of course Obama wishes to undo the Reagan agenda. - William Kristol

No one should doubt Barack Obama's ambition. He intends to be a new president breaking new ground in a new era. - William Kristol

There is much more of a record of liberal failures to look back on now than when the New Deal and the Great Society were being rushed through. So there is no reason to despair. - William Kristol

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4 comments
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Toon
Feb 26, 09 9:16 PM CST
Oh yeah, Republicans think the elimination of hunger and the ability to not spend your last years in abject poverty are so unAmerican that similar policies have to be stopped at all costs and they are willing to let millions of their constituents be unemployed for years to save us from any more such horrible fates. Reply
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Doctor_Zaius
Feb 26, 09 10:44 PM CST
We thought we cleaned house in 2006 and 2008 but it looks like we will have more trash to take out in 2010. Reply
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Doctor_Zaius
Feb 26, 09 10:46 PM CST
Good old Billy Kristol. Somehow a pundit who has been wrong on everything for the past 5 years still finds work. Go figure. Reply
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radnip
Feb 27, 09 4:11 AM CST
"I'm killing you but it's for your own good." Reply
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