House Democratic lawmaker faults Obama for being ‘too patient’
SAN ANTONIO — An early congressional supporter of Barack Obama says the president has let his bully pulpit atrophy.
Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D-Texas), a Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) member in his sixth term, endorsed Obama in early February 2008 over Hillary Rodham Clinton.
But he’s been disappointed in how the first year of his presidency has turned out.
{mosads}“[Obama’s] greatest mistake [has been] not using the bully pulpit to be more forceful and aggressive in advancing the agenda, the priorities and his positions. I believe that he thought that would be counterproductive and would go contrary to his pledge to seek bipartisanship. I believe that he has been much too patient,” Gonzalez said in an interview with The Hill in his hometown late last week.
Sitting in Liberty Bar, a favorite Alamo City watering hole, Gonzalez pressed his point that Obama needed to demand new ideas of Republicans if bipartisanship is to be attained.
Sipping iced hibiscus and mint tea, Gonzalez said, “He should’ve set the stage from the beginning by saying, ‘This is what we inherited, and I want to work with my Republican colleagues in [formulating] solutions.’ ”
He added that Obama should have said, “I want you to come up with new ideas. Do not continue to propose that which got us in trouble.”
“He never did that,” Gonzalez said. “He may have done that once.”
Gonzalez, 64, stresses he’s confident Obama can rebound.
“Am I disappointed in some things? Yeah. But I still have great faith in the president. He is an incredible talent.”
The White House did not comment for this article.
After a day of traveling around his Texas district at several events, one to tout a $200,000 earmark he was able to secure for San Antonio’s Rape Crisis Center, another to promote 2010 census awareness at a local college campus with the National Census Bus, the veteran Texas lawmaker opened up on his own frustrations with the Democratic Party.
Unlike some other Democrats in Congress, Gonzalez has little to worry about this November. In 2008, he won his race with 72 percent of the vote. Obama won his 20th district by 27 points over Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
Gonzalez, who holds the seat his father occupied for 37 years before him, learned early on in politics that whoever defines the debate wins it.
And Democrats have allowed Republicans to define the healthcare debate in terms of government takeover and death panels, Gonzalez said.
By doing so, Republicans, he believes, have created a “poisonous legislative environment,” a tough situation when other reforms need to be made.
Immigration, a topic that factors heavily in his majority-Hispanic district, is not likely to get done this year.
“Immigration reform is a heavy lift in many ways. It was encouraging that the president made mention of it in the State of the Union, but I don’t know in this political climate that you’re going to be given the time to argue the needs and benefits of it,” the member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus said.
Asked if he could envision a smaller immigration bill moving forward, such as Sen. Dick Durbin’s (D-Ill.) DREAM Act, Gonzalez — who has opposed a piecemeal approach to immigration reform — was less than optimistic.
Gonzalez said regardless of scope, immigration reform will always have fierce critics.
Gonzalez, a former county and state judge, continued, “I hope I am totally wrong, but I believe that the opposition just doesn’t see any political capital in being part of any effort that would be interpreted as being a success for the party in power.”
For that reason, he finds it hard to envision a true compromise with Republicans on healthcare reform.
The Energy and Commerce Committee member contends that the problem with wanting to strike a deal with the GOP is that “compromising with Republicans … when they do come forward with a proposal, it guts the underlying bill.”
The Energy and Commerce Committee member cited the GOP alternative to the Democrats’ climate change bill that passed the House in June.
“Their proposal was: ‘Gee, Charlie, we’ll help you with some of that stuff, if you’ll vote with us to take cap-and-trade out of the bill.’ That’s like saying, when they were doing their tax cuts, their Bush tax cuts, they come to Charlie Gonzalez and go, ‘Can you reach a deal with us?’ and I say, ‘On those tax cuts? Yeah, I’ll work with you as long as we increase taxes.’ ”
Gonzalez acknowledged that Democrats will likely have to give on some aspects of their healthcare reform bill. He showed with a shake of his head that he is frustrated with how Democrats ended up in the position they’re in.
Democrats should have kept it simple, he said, and hit several main points of their plan: “We should have done an A, B, C and stuck with the fundamentals and kept banging and banging and banging” while explaining “the immediate benefits to constituents.”
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