The National Journal reports:
President Obama sees his new global-warming regulations as a cornerstone of his legacy. Republicans see them as fresh political ammunition.
On Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled the first in a series of historic and controversial climate-change rules aimed at reining in carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants, the nation’s top source of greenhouse-gas emissions.
Republican strategists say they see Obama’s climate rules as a huge political liability—and they are raring to use climate policy broadly as a weapon against Democrats in the 2014 midterm elections.
“I’m looking at data in competitive House races that shows that this sucker will be a loser,” said Brock McLeary, a pollster for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “If in 2014, Obamacare will be the right jab, climate policy will be the left.”
That dynamic would essentially revisit the top two lines of attack that House Republicans used to win a landslide majority in 2010.
You are correct to feel that way, as long as Boehner is Speaker.
2010 was a backlash against Obamacare. It gave the Republicans the house majority and then the established leadership wanted to go back to business as usual. So much so, that they alienated a percentage of conservative voters in 2012, who didn’t show up. I’d like to see conservative increases in both houses, but I’m not all that confident that the mainstream Republicans will seek too many changes.