Here’s a thought: What if Sen. Ted Cruz — the Republican junior senator from Texas who was elected in 2012 during a highly polarized presidential election between President Barack Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney — is working for the Democrats?
Because he has time and time again proven to be, perhaps even aimed to be, a giant wrench in the Republican Party’s political machine.
Cruz has rustled feathers before.
He is apparently driven by the let’s-take-our-country-back mentality (from Barack Obama) that was even more popular in his home state following the passage of “Obamacare.” His drive and his actions have, in effect, forged enemies within his own party, especially with party leadership.
Take this most recent case: the nation didn’t default on its debt this year and won’t stand to do so for more than a year. Politically, it was very much a win for Obama, who has long called on Congress to pass a “clean” debt ceiling. But the Republicans felt like they could come out with a win, too.
The Democrats could have used their majority in the Senate to pass a clean debt ceiling bill with no Republican votes, making it easy for Senate Republicans up for re-election this November to say something along the lines of, “Obama and the Democrats irresponsibly raised the debt ceiling with no responsible money-saving measures.”
That line would have worked well in states in which Senate Democrats are in tight races with Republican challengers. It could have been the difference between the Democrats keeping their majority and losing it.
It was a good situation to be in. The Democrats stuck together in the House of Representatives to marginally pass the bill with few GOP votes, which was enough to land it in the Senate. The GOP could have had the best of both worlds: The nation wouldn’t default on its debt (which is good, because polls show that people would have blamed Republicans for that, not Democrats), and the Republicans would have had a line to use against Democrats in the highly contested midterm elections.
That was ruined when Cruz forced a filibuster in the Senate, which meant the bill would have to gain 60 votes instead of a simple majority of 51. Since there aren’t 60 Democrats in the Senate, a few Republicans had to vote with Democrats, effectively dumping the campaign zinger in the garbage.
I’m sure Cruz might say he did what he did because he thinks the folks who elected him to office opposed the bill so much that they’d rather default on our nation’s debts than raise the debt ceiling.
But in the end, he did the Democrats a huge favor.
Joshua Jamerson is a junior studying journalism and the local editor of The Post. What do you think about Ted Cruz? Talk politics with Joshua at jj360410@ohiou.edu.
