Don't Be Timid, GOP. Talk to America. Be Bold.

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was elected by fellow Republicans today to become Senate majority leader when the new Congress convenes in January. It is the fulfillment of a long-held ambition for McConnell, who was chosen by acclamation at a closed-door meeting of the rank and file to lead the Senate in the final two years of President Barack Obama's term. McConnell was elected to a sixth Senate term last week in elections in which Republicans gained a Senate majority for the first time in eight years. ~~~~~ John Boehner is stronger than ever as House Speaker and will be elected to his third term as Speaker later today. Boehner already faces post-election grumbling from House conservatives, but his position is remarkably secure for a Speaker whose tenure has been marked by drama -- the debt ceiling standoff, the government shutdown and battles with Obama and within the GOP. Boehner will soon preside over the largest House GOP majority since World War II, with a GOP partner to work with in the Senate in McConnell. GOP Representative Tim Huelskamp, a frequent Boehner critic from the right, told CNN that the midterm elections were a mandate for change and "change wasn't compromise with the President...what won the election in 2014 was bold conservative principles and solutions." Huelskamp agrees with Boehner's pledge to again pass a series of GOP economic measures next year that the Democratic-led Senate ignored. But he insists that the GOP base also wants the Republican Congress to take measures backed by social conservatives, citing "traditional marriage and pro-life bills." But Boehner still has Barack Obama to deal with and it's unclear whether Boehner will make any major concessions and work with the President and Democrats to pass items like new infrastructure programs and new trade authority. In Washington, there's a sense that corralling the rambunctious House GOP conference is a job that no one else besides Boehner is prepared to take on at this point -- or even wants -- and when Republicans gather this week, Boehner will balance between telling his members what they want to hear about pushing conservative legislation next year and starting to set some expectations. Those who disagree with the Speaker say their disagreements have never been personal, and he's earned genuine respect. ~~~~~ McConnell and Boehner have their work cut out for them. "If they define success as passing bills that the President signs, that is setting themselves up for failure over the next year," according to Dan Holler, spokesman for Heritage Action, a conservative group that has clashed with Boehner in the past. Holler said the list of economic items that McConnell and Boehner listed in their op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal last week was on target, but seen by conservatives as just "a good start." The bigger GOP majority gives the Speaker a cushion against tea partiers but Boehner still faces a GOP House divided over tactics and goals. ~~~~~ One issue that needs immediate attention is whether to fund the government for several months past a December 11 deadline in order to maintain leverage over President Obama on immigration or to pass a full-year spending bill to clear the decks for a fresh start with the GOP Congress in January. Pragmatic House members are pressing for an omnibus spending bill and warn that tea party forces who want to use necessary spending bills as ammunition in their battle with Obama over his planned executive action on immigration could spark a government shutdown next month or next year. But many conservatives do not want to give away any power to Obama and Senate Democrats, and they are promising an all-out battle - including withholding funding to implement any immigration order - to block Obama. More seasoned GOP House members warn that putting veto bait like an immigration provision into a spending bill could lead to a government shutdown, just as an effort last year to "defund" the new health care law backfired into a 16-day government shutdown that left large numbers of voters in a bad mood. House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers said : "There's no one more strong than me against unilateral action by the President on this subject. However, like it's been said before, don't take a hostage you can't shoot....I don't want a shutdown and I don't want the threat of a shutdown. Because that doesn't serve our purposes." In the Senate, the budget agenda is complicated. Conservatives Jeff Sessions and Mike Lee are among those arguing to use the must-pass spending bill - either in December or next year - to try to block Obama from taking unilateral action to protect millions of immigrants illegally in the US from deportation. At the very least, they want to pass only a short-term funding bill that saves major decisions on spending and other policies into next year when Republicans control the Senate. ~~~~~ Meanwhile, House Republicans moved legislation to force approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. Republicans and several moderate Democrats insist that construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline would create tens of thousands of jobs. Environmentalists maintain that the project would have a negative impact and contribute to climate change. Keystone XL supporters say Senate action is needed to end years of delay by the Obama administration on whether to approve the project. Approval by next Tuesday would force Obama to either sign it into law or veto the measure just weeks after a Democratic drubbing in midterm elections. ~~~~~ The emergence of the Keystone XL issue was a surprise in the lame-duck agenda expected to focus on keeping the government running past the December 11 budget deadline. Preventing a government shutdown is a top priority of Boehner and McConnell. McConnell says the other big items for the lame-duck session are renewing expired tax breaks for businesses and individuals, providing more money to fight Ebola and renewing Obama's authority to arm and train opposition to ISIS militants in Syria, which expires next month. McConnell said : "This will require cooperation from both sides of the aisle, from both sides of the Rotunda and from both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. The actions of the next few weeks could help set a positive tone for the work of the next Congress. It's a tone that will depend largely on the administration's willingness to respect the message sent last Tuesday." But Republicans in the Senate are split as well. Senator Marco Rubio says : "We could clearly pass a budget out of both chambers that doesn't fund the immigration executive order and the President would probably veto it or threaten to, and then you find yourself in kind of the situation we were in not long ago. So that's what everyone's trying to work through, to see if there's a way to address it that's not counterproductive." ~~~~~ Dear readers, the Republican victory in the mid-term elections -- a Senate majority, the largest House majority since WWII, 31 governorships and 2/3 of state legislatures -- surely stands for something more than a better budget process. A Gallup poll taken on November 6 and 7, after the GOP win and Democratic Party major losses, shows a record-low 36% of Americans say they have a favorable opinion of the Democrat Party, down 6% from before the elections. The Republican Party's favorable rating, at 42%, up from 40%, marks the first time since September 2011 that the Republican Party has had a higher favorability rating than the Democratic Party. The Republican wave victory did not come because GOP candidates and their party were cautiously mimicking Democrats. It came because the Republicans stood for a bold new direction for America -- smaller government with balanced budgets, economic growth based on reasonable energy and regulatory policies that promote business and more fulltime jobs, a redoing of Obamacare's nationalized healthcare approach, a President held to his constitutional role and duties, and tax relief with tax code revision and simplification. These sea changes away from failed Democrat big-government tax-and-spend policies require not only vision, but GOP unity around key pieces of the legislation program mandated in the mid-term elections. Timidity will fail because Obama will ridicule it. But clear goals and tactics explained often to the American electorate will succeed -- because Americans have the same goals. The GOP must trust America to support them. After all, America elected them to do this long overdue job. Don't be afraid, GOP. Communicate. Be bold.