House Democrats Won't Repeat GOP Mistakes (Bob Barr)

Created by : Francis Goodwin View profile

By BOB BARR -- Atlanta Journal Constitution

Nov. 9, 2006 -- On Wednesday, Nov. 9, 1994, after learning in the wee hours that morning that I was then a U.S. representative-elect, I had the opportunity at the Waverly Hotel to appear at a news conference with new Speaker-elect Newt Gingrich.

He spoke of new plans and programs with the self-assurance of a veteran leader. Even though Gingrich was about to assume a job no Republican had held in 40 years, publicly he and his transition team of House colleagues portrayed a sense of being in charge.

The difficulties of assuming command of one of the branches of government of the world's only superpower, however, began to manifest themselves as soon as the new majority began to consolidate power in the weeks following the election. Unlike their colleagues in the Senate, who had tasted and tested majority leadership in the 1980s, not a single member of the new House Republican majority had ever served in the majority. Mistakes were made that were directly and obviously the result of having been completely shut out of the corridors of power in the House for four decades.

First and foremost among those mistakes, perhaps, was not recognizing the true nature of their victory. Many in the new House majority incorrectly concluded that their 1994 victory was a mandate for all they had campaigned on: dramatically smaller government, quickly achieved; significantly lower taxes; and a complete rollback of many policies instituted in his first two years in office by their nemesis, President Bill Clinton (whom we repeatedly underestimated).