The Republicans' dubious claims to be carrying out the public's popular mandate by deeply slashing a narrow range of Federal Programs bears little resemblance to what most Americans really want the congress to be focusing on, Jobs. The GOP's doctrinaire focus on cutting the size of government on both the federal and state levels is likely to set off a wave of buyers remorse and resentment among independents as they figure out that the Republican Party has punked them yet again.
As Republicans See a Mandate on Budget Cuts, Others See Risk
But in the view of officials from both major political parties, Republicans may be risking the same kind of electoral backlash Democrats suffered after they were perceived as overreaching.
Public surveys suggest that most voters do not share the Republicans’ fervor for the deep cuts adopted by the House, or for drastically slashing the power of public-sector unions. And independent voters have historically been averse to displays of political partisanship that have been played out over the last week.
“If Republicans push too far and overreach their mandate, they will be punished by independent voters, just as they were in 1996,” said Mark McKinnon, a Republican strategist who was a senior adviser to President George W. Bush. “Voters said they wanted bold action. They are getting bold action. But Republicans need to be constantly reminded that the last election was a referendum for change, not a referendum for the G.O.P.”
Republicans dislike being reminded what the public wants something different than their leaders speaking for the Party on Fright Wing radio are calling for.
At the very least, the huge demonstrations in Wisconsin over Mr. Walker’s efforts suggest that the Republicans have succeeded in doing what Mr. Obama was unable to do last year: energize the Democratic base.
Lets hope they've awakened a sleeping giant.
More on the January poll cited in the New York Times article.
Poll Finds Wariness About Cutting Entitlements
Nearly two-thirds of Americans choose higher payroll taxes for Medicare and Social Security over reduced benefits in either program. And asked to choose among cuts to Medicare, Social Security or the nation’s third-largest spending program — the military — a majority by a large margin said cut the Pentagon.
Of course the Republicans are scrupulously avoiding large cuts to the biggest concentration of wasteful spending in the federal budget, our bloated worldwide military empire.
Asked what Congress should focus on, 43 percent of Americans say job creation; health care is a distant second, cited by 18 percent, followed by deficit reduction, war and illegal immigration.
Only 18% of Americans thought that congress should focus on deficit reduction. That is 18% is the Republican Base. The Republicans in Congress claim they've heard the mandate of the American voters, when all that they're really head is their own wishful thinking out loud reverberating through the right wing echo chamber.