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>> -- Living in the bushes,
in the trees.
>> We're going
to have a department meeting
in this -- next Thursday.
I'll send out an email,
what is good for you guys.
So I have a few things
on the plate.
>> Email. What's the guy write?
>> Hello. My name is Professor
Dennis Falcon
and welcome to my PolySci lab.
Today we're gonna be talking
about the current 111th
Congress, sworn
into office this past January.
We've had a few months to look
and see, watch the developments
under a new presidency.
So I'm joined, as always,
by professor Bryan Reece
and Victor Obasohan
So you guys,
what's the big picture here?
What context should we put this
current Congress
in as we discuss it?
>> Democratic-controlled
Congress, I think it's very,
very strongly controlled
by the Democratic Party
in both chambers,
with a Democrat
in the White House.
It's all about Democrats
for a while.
>> Well, I agree with that.
I think for the foreseeable
future, Republicans are going
to be in the
political wilderness.
>> Um-hum.
>> Particularly in the House.
And there are --
and as we tape this,
in the Senate as well.
>> You know the thing
that I'm kind of watching
for in this next Congress is
Barack Obama came --
you know, he swept
in with tremendous popularity,
lots of Democrats
on his coat tails
in this last election.
I mean he swept
in with a big tent voice,
a voice that pulled in all
of the democratic party,
pulled a bunch
of Republican moderates over,
and so had this kind
of bipartisan voice,
a set of bipartisan ideas.
Now, he tried to start
out with a bipartisan
administration, didn't work.
Republicans
and Democrats are still fighting
with each other
like they always have been.
And so now the conversation is
really turned
to a Democratic conversation
in the Congress.
As that happens,
what I think is going to happen
over the next couple
of years is their voice will
become less and less moderate,
and more and more liberal
because it's only gonna be
Democrats in the conversation.
That's when we'll start
to see some changes going
on with regard
to public opinion.
>> Now, you know --
>> I -- I agree with that,
you know, because Democrats have
a history of eating their own.
You know? So they may overreach.
That's what Republicans are
counting on,
and I think it's going to happen
because like Professor Reese
said, if it is all Democratic
affair, at some point they're
going to overreach,
and the American people will
begin to take another look.
Maybe we should not have an all
one party government.
Maybe gridlock,
in the end, is good.
>> Now, just as a point
of reference for our students
and faculty out there,
in the mid-90s the Republican
party was able to wrest control
of the house away
from the Democrats after,
you know, some time
in the wilderness
for Democrats there.
>> Um-hum.
>> And some people would argue
that with the Contract
with America
and other developments
through the years
that the Republican Party
overreached
when they had control
of the house.
>> Absolutely.
>> Isn't that what we should
expect from parties
that are victorious?
I mean isn't --
the Democratic majority is huge.
They can argue
that they have a mandate
by the voters
across the country,
and with President Obama's
substantial victory.
Can we actually accuse a party
with a mandate of overreaching?
>> I think so because even
though the numbers show mandate,
most Americans still want --
>> Moderation.
>> You know,
some kind of moderation
and bipartisan kind of things --
you know, look at things
in a two-way format
and reach a consensus.
So I think, you know,
while a mandate is there,
the political thing,
or the political savvy thing
to do, the politically correct
thing to do is to at least,
you know, be moderate.
>> I don't think --
>> Now, we've had a little time
to look.
Nancy Pelosi,
Speaker of the House,
and Harry Reed,
the Majority Leader
in the Senate, Professor Reese,
do you think they're
up to the task
and that they have the
personalities
and whatever it takes
to actually be bipartisan
leaders in the House and Senate?
Or we just --
we have the wrong cards play
with them as the leaders?
>> They're not interested
in being bipartisan leaders.
They don't need to be.
They have the numbers.
They've got the votes.
They're gonna move
through an agenda
that is interesting to them,
that they want to --
you know, they were --
they've spent their time
in the wilderness,
having to wait.
Now, it's their time.
>> So is it payback?
Is that what this [inaudible].
>> I don't --
not so much payback,
just it's their time.
You know, it's their time
to get some
of their ideas across.
What I think is interesting is
Nancy Pelosi's gonna have more
arguments with Barack Obama.
She's gonna -- she --
I think she thinks Barack Obama
is too moderate.
He's too much to the right
or in the middle.
She's more to the left,
and there's going
to be some dialog there.
That's what's going
to start pulling the Democratic
Party left.
Eventually, they'll --
that's when they'll overreach.
They'll go too far left.
They'll lose the middle.
The Republicans will come
forward with a voice
that encompasses the middle.
And then we'll swing back
in that direction again.
That -- I mean
that might take 10 years,
but that's generally the cycle
that goes on.
>> I don't know.
I think, you know, three of us;
we're talking a prayer
to the taping.
The Republicans,
I think by public opinion,
about 21 percent of Americans --
>> Yeah. They're --
>> -- You know,
see themselves as --
>> -- at historic lows, right.
>> -- yeah,
I mean see themselves
as Republicans.
Now, you know,
this is what is doing it
for Democrats,
that they are going
to ride this wave,
if Republicans, you know,
are at about 21 percent
of this population.
Who is the leader
of the Republican Party
as we tape this?
Rush Limbaugh?
Sarah Palin?
>> Who knows?
>> Newt Gringrich?
Who?
>> Mitt Romney.
I don't know.
>> Mitt -- I mean -- I mean --
you know, if all these people,
you know, I mean, so --
they don't --
>> I think it was
Michael Steele.
>> Michael Steele, the RNC --
>> The Chairman of the RNC.
>> Michael Steele, you know,
he's a comedian.
You know, so it's --
>> Well, let's see.
Miss California.
What was her --
>> Miss California.
Oh, no.
>> So until they are able
to find an articulate,
moderate to right conservative
to lead them, to speak for them,
and everybody else shut-up,
you know, I think they're going
to remain where they are.
*** Cheney speaking out?
Calling Obama names?
>> Good point there.
I'm glad you brought
up *** Cheney,
the former Vice-President.
Some people, I think,
are a little bit shocked
that a former Vice-President is
actually taking
such an active role
in criticizing the
new administration.
We're not used to seeing that.
Usually people just kind
of fade away --
>> Yeah, he [inaudible].
>> -- And they go off into,
I guess, starting
to build their libraries,
etcetera.
But, you know, since you brought
up Cheney, how long are the
negative coattails gonna work,
related to President Bush,
and are we gonna see a loss
for the Democrats the next
mid-term elections in 2010?
>> Yeah.
>> And is the Bush legacy gonna
be that long and dark?
>> I don't think Bush lasts
'til 2010.
I wish Cheney would just be
quiet and go away.
It's Barack Obama's turn.
And we need to get a sense
of what Barack Obama's all
about, and then
who the new Republicans are.
By 2010, I think it's gonna have
a lot to do
with through is economy.
If the economy has pulled
and is doing well,
that's gonna mean one thing.
Barack Obama's policies are
gonna be seen as successful.
We may ride
in some more coat tails on that.
If the economy is continuing
to slide, if we're continuing
to see growth in unemployment,
then we're gonna start
questioning whether
or not he did the right thing,
and start maybe considering some
other ideas.
>> President Obama has a
over 60 percent job approval
rating within his first
100 days.
The parties might be having
completely different public
approval ratings of --
Republicans are way down there.
But the last I heard,
the American people still have a
pretty low job approval rating
when it comes --
>> Of Congress.
>> -- to Congress, as a whole.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
>> So, you know, that's the --
>> But it is moving up, thought.
>> Congress is always destined
to be at the bottom
of the basement.
>> No, but it is climbing,
though.
It is climbing.
I think the last poll I saw,
about maybe 30 percent
of Americans, you know.
I mean it was 19, you know?
>> That would be an improvement.
That's true.
>> Yeah, so it is
an improvement.
So, look, this is what I think
about the Democratic Congress.
That as long as Republicans want
to go back and play the old way,
you know, of terrorism.
Have you seen their new
commercial, you know,
on the Internet?
You know, saying Obama is
putting us in danger.
We played that game in 2008,
and Democrats won.
So if you want to keep playing
that game, Republican's,
you know, will continue to lose
and give more seats
to [inaudible].
>> Okay. One last --
one last stop because,
you know what?
This is the same theme.
Professor Reese --
>> Yeah?
>> -- Are the Republican
majority -- minority leaders,
the people that are in the House
and Senate from the Republican
Party, are they playing their
cards right, right now,
by being the party of No.
The perception is that's what
they're doing.
They don't have any new ideas.
All they're trying
to do is stand in the way, and,
like, be benchers and complain
about what the Democrats
are doing.
Do you think they're playing
this right, or do they need
to refind a voice and positions
on these important issues
and actually kick
in as start working
with this administration?
>> Well, I do think they're
playing it wrong.
Your last part
of that question threw me
for a -- or gets me
thinking here.
I do think they're playing it
wrong by being the party of no.
I think that's a little bit
of an exaggeration,
but in general, I think it fits.
They aren't coming forward
with any new ideas.
They just keep harkening back
to the Reagan era,
the last time they were very,
very popular.
What they need
to do is articulate a message
of where we go in the future.
They had a real strong
stranglehold
on free market ideas
and capitalism --
>> Um-hum.
>> -- And how
that moves us forward.
>> Um-hum.
>> I think they can have some
ideas there, but look,
some of the problems
with the current economy was we
were too much of a free market.
I think they need to own
up to that.
We're looking for a new voice
from the Republican Party.
Certainly, they're gonna have
to do -- they're gonna have
to create that.
So far, it hasn't emerged.
>> All right.
Thank you gentlemen.
That's gonna have
to be the last work.
Great conversation.
Hope you join us next time
at my PolySci lab.
And go hit the books.