Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America continue their year-end awards. Today, they reflect on the political figures they were most sad to see pass away in 2016. They also discuss their rising political stars and reach an easy consensus on the political figure they are most eager to see fade into oblivion.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America begin their annual year-end awards presentations. Today they hand out their individual choices for most underrated, overrated, and honest political figures.
2016 was an unforgettable year for many reasons. In addition to an historic presidential race and a year full of significant national and international events, we also pause to remember those who left us this year – from the arenas of politics and sports to television, film and music. And we begin with politics…
Nancy Reagan spent 16 years as a first lady, eight in California and eight in the White House while her husband served as governor and president. She was known as Nancy Davis in Hollywood. When her name mistakenly appeared on a list of communist sympathizers in Hollywood, she went to Screen Actors Guild President Ronald Reagan for help. He asked her to dinner and the rest is history. Known best for her “Just Say No” campaign against the scourge of drugs in the 1980s, Mrs. Reagan also earned worldwide admiration for her tireless care of her husband during his decade-long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Nancy Reagan was 94 when she died in March.
One of President Reagan’s longest lasting legacies was his nomination of Justice Antonin Scalia to the Supreme Court. For nearly 29 years, Scalia was the most visible conservative on the court, although he referred to himself as a textualist. Scalia was adored on the right and reviled by the left, but was well-respected in the legal community for his incisive questioning and strongly written decisions. Scalia died while on vacation in February. He was 79.
In the early years of the space race, there was no greater American hero than John Glenn. The heroic Marine Corps fighter pilot served in World War II and Korea. Soon after he became one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts. In 1962, Glenn achieved legend status when he became the first American to orbit the earth. In 1974, Glenn won the first of four terms to the U.S. Senate from Ohio. In 1984, he sought a promotion to president, but never gathered much steam towards the Democratic nomination. John Glenn died in December at the age of 95.
Glenn’s trip to space came the same year the U.S. and the Soviet Union nearly fought a nuclear war as a result of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Fidel Castro won his Cuban revolution in 1959 and quickly embraced communism and the USSR. Instead of freeing his people as promised, Castro repressed them – jailing tens of thousands, executing others and stifling freedoms while thumbing his nose at the U.S. Castro, who handed over presidential duties to his brother a decade ago, died in November. He was 90.
Phyllis Schalfly never held elective office, but few individuals have had a greater impact on American politics in the past 50 years. Schalfly burst onto the scene during the 1964 campaign with her book, ‘A Choice Not An Echo,’ which demanded a strong conservative alternative to business as usual in the Republican Party. For her next act, Schlafly singlehandedly led the effort defeat the Equal Rights Amendment, which would she said would have enshrined the worst of feminism in the Constitution. Ratification seemed like a foregone conclusion but Schlafly’s grassroots movement successfully lobbied enough states to stop the amendment in its tracks. Active until her final days, Schlafly died of cancer in September. She was 92.
One of the most famous liberal activists in the 1960s and 1970s was Tom Hayden. Known for his fierce opposition for the Vietnam War and for being a leading figure in the countercultural movement, Hayden was later married to Jane Fonda. Hayden died in October. He was 76.
No one spent more time as Attorney General of the United States than Janet Reno. Reno served all eight years of the Clinton administration and received the most attention for authorizing the raid against the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, in 1993 and for her role in returning six-year-old Elian Gonzalez to Cuba in the year 2000 after he washed ashore in Florida the year before. Reno was 78.
Two long-serving former senators died in 2016. Dale Bumpers served four terms as a Democrat from Arkansas. Just days after retirement in 1999, he returned to the Senate floor to plead with his colleagues not to remove President Clinton from office. Dale Bumpers was 90.
Bob Bennett was a three-term Republican from Utah. He died in May at age 82.
One of the most famous pieces of legislation signed in the early days of the Obama was the Sarbanes-Oxley bill, purported to put some restraints on Wall Street in the wake of the economic crisis. Ohio Republican Congressman Mike Oxley was one of the principal authors. Also a committee chairman earlier in his congressional tenure, Oxley was 71 when he died in January.
On the world stage, Israeli President Shimon Peres was the last active political figure in his nation whose service spanned the entire history of the modern state of Israel. Also serving twice as prime minister, Peres shared a Nobel Peace prize in 1994 for his efforts toward Middle East peace via the Oslo Accords. Shimon Peres died from a stroke in September. He was 93.
The man leading the United Nations when Peres was receiving the Nobel Peace Prize was Egyptian Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Later ousted at the behest of the United States after just one term as secretary-general, Boutros-Ghali died in February. He was 93.
The world’s longest-reigning monarch died this year. King Bhumibol ascended to the throne of Thailand in 1946 and stayed there for more than 70 years. He died in October at age 88.
Two colorful former mayors who had issues with the law also died this year. Buddy Cianci spent two different stretches as mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, totaling 21 years. However, criminal charges ended both terms. A racketeering conviction led to a four year prison term following his final stint in office.
North of the border, former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford became known for his battles with drugs and alcohol more than his work for the city. Ford died from cancer in March. He was 46.
Some of the most impactful writers also passed away this year. Elie Wiesel was a holocaust survivor who gripped the world with his account of the experience in the best-selling “Night.” Also a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, Elie Wisesel was 87 when he died in July.
Harper Lee captivated the nation with “To Kill A Mockingbird,” which then turned into a blockbuster film starring Gregory Peck. Lee then vanished from the public eye until another book was published in her name shortly before her death. Harper Lee was 89.
W.P Kinsella’s work led millions of Americans to the “Field of Dreams.” Kinsella was 81.
Three prominent Christian writers died this year as well. Dr. Charles Ryrie was a decades-long biblical scholar and teacher. He died in February at age 90. Jerry Bridges was known for his challenging writings on holiness and godliness. He was 86. And Tim LaHaye became famous for his “Left Behind” series on the end times although he authored other scholarly works as well. LaHaye was 90.
We also lost some of the most well-known media figures in 2016. Morley Safer was one of the ’60 Minutes’ correspondents who was on the job for decades. Doing both hard news and soft features, Safer was 84 when he died in May – just one day after retiring.
John McLaughlin changed political television forever by holding spirited discussions with reporters of all political persuasions – and making stars out of the journalists in the process. The founder of ‘The McLaughlin Group’ held court for nearly 35 years and hosted the program right up to his death in August. McLaughlin was 89.
Gwen Ifill was an accomplished print reporter before heading to television at NBC News and later PBS. Ifill hosted two vice-presidential debates and served as co-host of ‘The Newshour’ on PBS. She died from cancer in November. She was 61.
She spent more time talking about Catholic doctrine than politics, but Mother Angelica was a very recognizable face to viewers of EWTN. A critical figure in the founding of the network, Angelica was 92.
Two famous faces in sports journalism died this year as well. John Saunders was a versatile studio host and game announcer for ESPN and ABC. Saunders died suddenly in August. He was 61.
Craig Sager was known for his outlandish wardrobe and for his three decades covering the NBA on the sidelines. His valiant battle against leukemia inspired millions. Sager died in December at the age of 65.
In sports, we lost the king of golf. Arnold Palmer led his armies down the fairways as he won seven major championships, including four green jackets at the Masters. But Palmer’s greatest achievement is making golf appealing to the masses through his infectious smile, personality and blue collar roots. Palmer died of heart failure in September. He was 87.
Mr. Hockey also left us in 2016. Gordie Howe was a gentle ambassador off the ice but threw lots of elbows on it. He also scored a lot of goals and set NHL records by the bushel in a career that spanned from the 1940s to the 1980s. Best known for his years with, Howe led Hockeytown to four Stanley Cups. Gordie Howe was 88.
Muhammad Ali said he was the greatest. And a lot of people agree. Born Cassius Clay, he won gold at the 1960 Summer Olympics and won his first heavyweight title in 1964. After surrendering his belt for refusing service in the Vietnam War, Ali was later part of epic fights with Joe Frazier and George Foreman. Known as much for his non-stop self-promotion as for his fighting, Ali was eventually a three-time champ. Muhammad Ali was 74 when he died in June.
In baseball, one of the great personalities over the years was Joe Garagiola. A childhood friend of Yogi Berra, Garagiola was a tremendous catcher in his own right. He won a World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1946 and played for three other teams in his career. Later Garagiola announced baseball’s game of the week and was a regular part of NBC’s ‘Today” show. Joe Garagiola was 90.
Monte Irvin was a World War II veteran of the Battle of the Bulge and would soon be one of the first black players in Major League Baseball. Best known for his years with the New York Giants, Irvin was on the World Series-winning 1954 team, was a five-time all-star and was later inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973. Monte Irvin was 96.
Ralph Branca probably wished he was never famous. His moment in history came in 1951, when as a reliever for the Brooklyn Dodgers, he served up the pennant-winning home run to Bobby Thomson of the New York Giants. Branca was 90.
One of the brightest young pitchers of this generation was Jose Fernandez of the Miami Marlins. All of Major League Baseball was stunned by his sudden death in a late-night boating accident in September. Jose Fernandez was just 24 years old.
The rise in the prestige and popularity of women’s college basketball can largely be traced to the work of legendary Tennessee Lady Vols Coach Pat Summitt. Summitt took the job in Knoxville when women’s hoops was a mere afterthought. When she retired almost 40 years later, she had amassed eight national championships, seven national coach of the year awards and nearly 1,100 wins. Dementia cut her career short and took her life in June. Summitt was 64.
One of the brightest college stars on the men’s side in the 1980s was Dwayne “Pearl” Washington. He dazzled fans with his fast-break skills and scoring prowess as he put Syracuse basketball firmly on the map of perennial powers. His NBA career never matched the glory of his college years. Washington was 52 when he died in April.
Nate Thurmond wasn’t all that flashy. He was simply a beast in the low post and is known as one of the best defensive players and rebounders in NBA history. Playing most of his career with the San Francisco and then Golden State Warriors, Thurmond was 74 when he died of leukemia in July.
In football, the name Buddy Ryan is synonymous with dominant defense. Ryan was the architect of the vaunted 46 defense that propelled the Chicago Bears to one of the greatest seasons in NFL history and a blow-out win in Superbowl XX. Still the only assistant coach carried off the field after winning a title, Buddy Ryan was 85 when he died in June.
Dennis Green was a feisty and successful NFL coach. After a brief stint as head coach at Stanford, Green was hired by the Minnesota Vikings. There he promptly led the team to eight playoff appearances in nine seasons, including four division titles and two trips to the NFC championship game. Later find less success with the Arizona Cardinals, Green died in July. He was 67.
Dennis Byrd saw his playing career end in a moment of sudden tragedy and his life ended in a similar fashion. Byrd was a defensive end for the New York Jets when a collision with a teammate left him paralyzed. Later able to walk after much rehabilitation, Byrd died in a car accident in October. He was 50.
Lawrence Phillips was a great football talent who could not stay away from crime. Phillips was a key running back on national championship teams at Nebraska but never could find success in the NFL. Instead, he found his way to prison on assault and theft charges. Later accused of murdering his cellmate, Phillips allegedly hanged himself in his cell in January. He was 40.
Rashaan Salaam was a dominant back for Colorado at the same Phillips was tearing it up for Nebraska. Salaam rushed for more than 2,000 yards for the Buffaloes in 1994 and won the Heisman Trophy. After a promising rookie season in the NFL, injuries took their toll. Salaam took his life in December. He was 42.
Cultural conservatives are breathing a thankful sigh of relief over the defeat of Hillary Clinton in 2016 but their expectations are sky high for Donald Trump on issues ranging from abortion to religious freedom.
“I think that God gave us a second chance, gave us a reprieve and I think there’s a lot of people who believe we have got to take advantage of the first 100 days, the first year, the first two years of this new administration,” said Liberty Counsel Chairman Mathew Staver.
But he says conservative activists are taking nothing for granted.
“There is going to be high expectation. I don’t think there is going to be anybody sitting back and just assuming that everything will take place on its own. On the other hand, I don’t believe that Christian conservatives are going to be silent if there’s not action. In fact, the future of [Trump’s] presidency and many people in the conservative movement is hanging in the balance,” said Staver.
On Election Day, 81 percent of evangelicals voted for Trump. Staver says there are multiple reasons for that but he believes the future of the Supreme Court is at the top of the list.
“You had diametrically different positions. You had Hillary Clinton who was going to be an extenuation of Barack Obama and radicalize the Supreme Court. We would never have the same country, frankly, if we had a Hillary Clinton because we would lose the Supreme Court for a couple of decades,” said Staver.
Despite Trump’s lack of a socially conservative track record, Staver says the GOP candidate went above and beyond to show those voters he shared their interests.
“Never before has a Republican candidate given a list (of prospective justices) or said specifically and emphatically that they have to be pro-life. So there was a very distinct choice between these two,” said Staver.
He says the makeup of the Supreme Court will be impacted significantly by Trump’s win since he will get to nominate a successor for the late Justice Antonin Scalia. But Staver says future vacancies will also be critical.
“(Filling) a vacancy with Scalia just gives you the status quo of what we had before Scalia died, assuming you have the same kind of justice who respects the Constitution. But after Scalia, any justices that resign or for whatever reason are no longer on the bench, there you have the future of the Supreme Court hanging in the balance,” said Staver.
Staver says the composition of the Supreme Court will be critical as many hot-button cases make their way through the lower courts.
“In the courtroom, you’re going to have a lot more battles coming down the pike on this clash between homosexuality and religious freedom. You’re going to see more battles on the pro-life issue because what we’re seeing in the last five years is an explosion of pro-life legislation that ends up in the courtrooms,” said Staver.
But while the courts remain a fierce battleground, Staver is very optimistic about what a change in the White House will mean.
“In the political realm, the sky’s the limit at this point, both politically and in the administrative state. We now have opportunities we never even hardly dreamed about before – to literally reverse so much of what Obama did not only by executive order but Obamacare and many other regulations that promoted an amoral, immoral agenda,” said Staver.
“I’m sure you’ll have him dropping some of these lawsuits that Obama has pushed, like the Obamacare lawsuit that goes against the religious freedom of the Little Sisters of the Poor and other religious ministries. I think you’ll also see a dropping of some of these other radical LGBT, sexual orientation, gender identity lawsuits that the Obama administration pushed forward,” said Staver.
Of all the opportunities for cultural conservatives, defunding and prosecuting Planned Parenthood are very high on the list. Staver says Republicans had the chance to defund the nation’s largest abortion provider from 2005-2007 but ended up “playing politics.” He expects it happen in 2017.
“They’ve already moved forward in the past to defund Planned Parenthood. They’ve made efforts in that direction to overturn Obamacare. The problem is they had a president that stopped that. Now we’ll have a president who will push that and sign those laws into effect,” said Staver.
Earlier in December, the House Select Investigative Panel for Infant Lives recommended some Planned Parenthood officials for prosecution in the wake of undercover videos depicting the dissecting of aborted babies and negotiations with researchers on a price for baby body parts.
Staver believes that will likely gather steam too.
“I think you could likely see some prosecution and more litigation against Planned Parenthood in 2017. I think their days of federal funding are going to come to an end and I think they are going to be on the receiving end of prosecutorial aggression by a number of entities, both state and federal as well. They deserve it,” said Staver.
One of America’s top political analysts says he and just about every other expert were wrong about the 2016 elections, noting Donald Trump is unlike any of his predecessors and his win promises to gut much of the Obama legacy.
Dr. Larry Sabato runs the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, where he teaches political science. He also heads up Sabato’s Crystal Ball, which predicts presidential, Senate, House, and gubernatorial races. In more than 40 years of tracking presidential races, has he ever seen a campaign like this one?
“Never, and no one in my field has,” said Sabato. “I’ve talked to a number of historians and people who focus on politics and political history. Everyone agrees that this election stands out in all of American history. Whether you liked the result or didn’t like the result, it’s just different,” said Sabato.
He says the Trump’s background is one of many things that distinguish him from previous presidents.
“Donald Trump is the only president-to-be who has not served in any political office or military office. He is an outsider complete and total. He’s the richest president by far. There’s just so many categories that make him unusual,” said Sabato.
When 2016 dawned, Trump was the front-runner for the Republican nomination, and other than an opening loss in Iowa, was the clear favorite throughout the chase for 1,237 delegates. Sabato says Trump benefited from a crowded GOP field.
“During the competitive part of the primary…Trump only received about 38 percent of the vote. Sixty-two percent of Republicans voted for other candidates. The problem (for the other candidates) was there was so many of them. So 38 percent was more than enough to win the nomination,” said Sabato.
All the supposed experts declared that Trump’s style, persona, and policy positions couldn’t possible win him the general election, but again Trump proved them all wrong. Sabato says it’s always hard for a party to win three consecutive terms in the White House. He says the only exception in modern history is the transition from Ronald Reagan to George H.W. Bush..
Another big factor that Sabato says was overlooked was a massive enthusiasm gap between supporters of Trump and Hillary Clinton.
“The turnouts in small town America, in rural America among the blue collar workers and white working class were enormous. It was just enormous, whereas Clinton was unable to excite even solid Democratic groups like millennials and African-American voters,” said Sabato.
He points out that Clinton won those groups handily but their turnout numbers were way down compared with 2012.
Sabato also notes that the media became fixated on Trump’s negatives and failed to pay attention to Clinton’s unpopularity.
“Hillary Clinton was more unacceptable than we realized. Yes, we knew she had high negatives. That was obscured by the fact that Trump had even higher negatives so we didn’t focus on her negatives. But it turned out her negatives unenthused the Democratic base, to a much greater degree in the end, than Trump’s negatives unenthused the Republican base,” said Sabato.
While Democrats offer excuses for Clinton’s defeat such as the influence of the Russians and the FBI to the existence of the Electoral College, Sabato says the real answers cut much closer to home.
“Hillary Clinton doesn’t want to talk about her inability to generate a large turnout among Democratic groups. She doesn’t want to talk about her inability to attract the white working class that got Bill Clinton elected in good part in 1992 and 1996. She never had a message that reached them,” said Sabato.
“Her slogan, although technically it was ‘Stronger Together’ whatever that means, was really ‘It’s My Turn. It’s My Turn.’ Well, people rarely elect a candidate because it’s their turn. They want to know what’s in it for them,” said Sabato.
But Clinton was not the only loser on election night. Sabato says President Obama took one on the chin as well.
“It hurts him a great deal. Why did he campaign so hard for a woman who gave him such trouble in 2008 and very nearly won the nomination instead of him?” asked Sabato. “He understood, just as Ronald Reagan understood, that if you don’t get a successor of your party elected to succeed you, much of what you’ve done is going to be reversed rather quickly and probably easily.”
For Sabato, 2016 leaves him with two major takeaways about the state of American politics. First, he says we need to pay more attention to who the most motivated voters are.
“A constituency that is ignored and feels angry or abused is going to turn out in larger numbers. It may be African-Americans for Barack Obama in 2008 or it may be white working class, rural or small town voters for Donald Trump in 2016. Always ask yourself, where’s the energy in the electorate,” said Sabato.
However, for all the big wins Republicans enjoyed in 2016, they still have some demographic problems.
“Republicans still have some of the basic problems they had before Trump was elected. They still don’t appeal to many minorities. They still don’t appeal to millennials. They have to get a larger share of more groups in the electorate if they are to win not just the electoral vote but the popular vote in future elections,” said Sabato.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America cheer the Italian police for taking out the Berlin terrorist, the Australian authorities for foiling a Christmas Day terrorist attack and those responsible for peacefully ending a hijacking in Malta. They also get a kick out of Harry Reid calling the DNC worthless and Joe Biden concluding that Hillary Clinton never figured out why she was running. And they applaud Donald Trump for getting Egypt to scrap a UN resolution condemning Israel after hearing the Obama administration might not oppose it.
While President Obama proudly claims to have pulled the U.S. economy off the brink of depression and into robust growth, a leading economic expert says Obama’s claims are nothing more than “calculated deception” and that our emergence from the financial crisis is the worst economic performance in 80 years.
In recent weeks, Obama has told crowds of supporters his administration has achieved an historic economic turnaround.
“Thanks to the hard work of you and some actually pretty smart policies by us, we have come farther and recovered faster than almost any other advanced nation on earth,” said Obama at a recent event.
“So despite what you may hear, there is no doubt we are making progress. By almost every measure, we are better off than when I took office,” added Obama.
Heartland Institute Senior Fellow Peter Ferrara is the author of the institute’s report entitled “Why the United States Has Suffered the Worst Economic Recovery Since the Great Depression.” He says says Obama’s message is largely smoke and mirrors.
“I describe President Obama’s rhetorical style as calculated deception. Those clips are the most perfect example I’ve heard of that to date,” said Ferrara.
Far from agreeing with Obama’s assessment, Ferrara wonders when we ever had a recovery.
“There’s been no economic recovery from the 2008-2009 recession to this day. You’re going to see that happen now under Trump. You’ll see what a huge difference it is when you have a real economic recovery instead of the paltry weak excuse of a recovery we had,” said Ferrara.
Obama and his defenders often point out the recovery was especially given the depths of the financial crisis. Ferrara says that’s exactly backwards.
“The American historical record is the worse the recession, the stronger the recovery. So there should have been an economic boom coming out of the recession in the summer of 2009. Here we are eight years later and that still hasn’t happened,” said Ferrara.
He says it has not happened because Obama pursued a Keynesian economic strategy that is a proven failure.
“Keynesian economics is a doctrine that the road to economic recovery is increase government spending, deficits, and debt. If that sounds crazy, it is crazy. It was introduced in the 1930s. It failed to end the Great Depression, but extended it and made it even worse,” said Ferrara.
“That’s been the experience under Keynesian economics. It should be expected. If you increase government spending, government deficits, and debt, that’s anti-growth not pro-growth. That just delays the recovery, which is what it’s done every time it’s been tried,” said Ferrara, who says Obama’s aggressive pursuit of a bigger regulatory state and destabilizing monetary policy are also major factors in the sputtering economy.
“You had twice as much economic growth under Jimmy Carter as you had under President Obama in his first term,” said Ferrara.
He says Obama did the exact opposite of what President Reagan did to kickstart massive economic expansion.
“Reagan had a four-point economic program. It was cut tax rates, deregulation, reduce government spending, and have a strong dollar monetary policy. President Obama’s policies have been exactly the opposite of each one of those four,” said Ferrara.
As a result, Ferrara says poverty rates skyrocketed and the middle class suffered a fiscal punch to the stomach.
“Incomes for the middle class have fallen just about continuously throughout his entire two terms in office. During the first term alone, the middle class lost the equivalent of about one month’s pay a year,” said Ferrara.
So despite the rosy Obama rhetoric, Ferrara says the middle and working classes know what the economy has done to their bottom line and their frustration boiled over in November.
“That was the fundamental element in this past election. The blue-collar workers smartly saw that they had been abandoned by the Democrats. They were the original backbone for the Democrat Party. But the Democrat Party has forgotten that for so long that they’ve given up on the Democrat Party as have so many other groups,” said Ferrara.
Ferrara says if the U.S. economy stays on the pace set by Obama and we keep seeing two percent growth instead of three to four percent, we’re on our way to a third-world economy within half a century.
“It’s $521 trillion over 50 years in loss of economic growth and prosperity. That’s the net cost. The entire American economy is only $18 trillion a year. $521 trillion. How many American economies is that? That’s the biggest economic loss in world history,” said Ferrara.
“So if we keeping growing at the two percent or less that Obama has, and we keep that going year after year, we’ll eventually descend to the status of a third world country,” said Ferrara.
However, Ferrara does not expect that to happen since Trump appears ready to pursue a Reagan-like economic agenda.
“The reason Trump is going to create a boom is because every one of the key policies is doing the opposite of what Obama did. He’s proposed to cut taxes like Reagan did. He’s proposed to reduce regulatory burdens like Reagan did. He’s proposed to reduce regulatory burdens like Reagan did. he will appoint good members to the Fed that will restore sound monetary policy that will stabilize the dollar over the long run,” said Ferrara.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America groan as conservative House Republicans are reportedly prepared to be less demanding on reining in spending once Trump is in office. They also shake their heads as more revelations suggest the Germans should have had the Berlin terrorist out of the country a long time ago. And they discuss three hate crime allegations that turned out to be hoaxes – the latest in a series of fake news.
President Obama is taking multiple actions that could hamstring President-Elect Donald Trump’s plans to unleash domestic energy production, which is a major component of the Trump economic agenda.
On Tuesday, Obama banned offshore energy exploration in massive portions of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.
“The law allows a president to withdraw any currently unleased lands in the Outer Continental Shelf from future lease sales. There is no provision in the law that allows the executive’s successor to repeal the decision, so President-elect Donald Trump would not be able to easily brush aside the action,” reported CNBC.
The law in question is legislation from 1953 that deal with offshore leases. Advocates of American energy exploration contend this is simply Obama’s gift to the environmental lobby.
“There have been a lot of environmental groups, especially over the past few months, who have been urging the administration to take some sort of action,” said Chris Warren, vice president for communications at the Institute for Energy Research.
“This is pretty much the Obama administration giving an early Christmas gift to the ‘keep it in the ground’ activists, these folks who want to keep all our oil, gas, and coal resources in the ground,” he added.
Warren suspects the waters in question could yield trillions of barrels of oil, but he says greater energy independence isn’t even the most important result if those areas were to be opened up
“We produced a study a few years back at what would happen if we were to produce our oil and gas resources offshore in the Atlantic, the Arctic and the Gulf (of Mexico). These numbers are staggering. You’re talking about hundreds of thousands of jobs a year, hundreds of billions of dollars in GDP output per year, higher wages for folks, more revenue for government,” said Warren.
Warren says the method by which Obama is locking the offshore areas seems suspect.
“This is a pretty obscure provision in an old law. It’s never been used in this manner so we’re not quite sure how the next administration can take care of it but they certainly will be working hard to do so,” said Warren.
He sees two possible remedies.
“One way they can do this is by undesignating this area. Of course, they’ll be sued after that but they’ll take it to the court system and we’ll see how it shakes out from there. Congress could also pass legislation to reverse this,” said Warren.
Obama’s efforts are not limited to offshore exploration. Earlier this month, the administration blocked the controversial path of the Dakota Access Pipeline. This week, it also finalized the Stream Protection Rule, which mandates distances that coal mining operations must keep away from waterways.
Warren says the latter policy continues Obama’s strangling of the coal industry.
“This is really just another way that the Obama administration is trying to take coal off the table. They want to prevent it from being mined. They want to prevent it from being used in our electricity system with the clean power plant regulation, which was the hallmark of this administration’s climate agenda. This is just one more regulation that the Obama administration is trying to push out the door,” said Warren.
So is Obama succeeding at putting roadblocks in the way of the Trump energy agenda? Warren says there are new hurdles to clear but that Trump still has other good options.
“Our federal lands have tons of oil, gas, and coal resources that have been held under lock and key by this current administration. It hasn’t been through regulation. It’s been by slow-walking permits, offering very few leases to companies to produce these resources. That’s something the Trump administration can come in and do fairly quickly,” said Warren.
Warren says the Obama and Trump approaches to energy could not be more different.
“We’re not talking about favoring one source over another, whether it’s coal or natural gas or wind or solar or whatever. It’s about allowing Americans to make those choices for themselves,” said Warren.
“Under this current administration, that hasn’t been the case. It’s been throwing money and mandating the sources that President Obama prefers. Under the Trump administration, I think we’ll see an end to that,” said Warren.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America react to a Washington Post report suggesting the 2018 Senate map gives the Republicans a chance to hold a 60-seat majority. They also shudder as German authorities confirm they’re looking for a Tunisian asylum seeker as the one responsible for the Berlin terrorist attack. And they scratch their heads over the reasons some Democrats are giving for opposing Keith Ellison as the next DNC chairman, instead of the really glaring reasons he would be a terrible choice.
