With the
government shut down this week, there hasn’t been much legislating for
Representative John Lewis to do. Instead, Lewis has been focusing on public
relations as he has stated several times that the GOP leaders in Congress are
at fault for the shutdown. Mr. Lewis published this statement regarding his
thoughts on the government shutdown, “I am very sorry that some of my colleagues on the
other side of the aisle do not believe in government and the collective good it
can do to help citizens, businesses and communities lead more humane,
productive lives. They do not share our democratic values and seem to
feel compassion and support should not be extended to every citizen, but should
be reserved for a privileged few” (Lewis). Lewis is remaining a strong supporter
of the Democratic Party, serving in a role that is similar to his whip position,
in which he is trying to gather support for the Democratic platform. Perhaps
the reason he is voicing his opinion regarding the GOP leadership in Congress
is because of his experience with the last government shutdown that occurred in
1995 and 1996. During that shutdown, there was a similar power structure as the
House of Representatives was controlled by the Republican Party, while the
President (Bill Clinton) was Democrat. (Guardian) After the fallout of the
1995-1996 government shutdown, Republicans were mostly blamed for the shutdown felt
some of that pressure in the congressional elections of 1996, losing 3 seats
but maintaining majority. (CNS) John Lewis enjoyed the bad publicity for
Republicans in the 1996 congressional elections as for the first time in his
congressional career, Lewis ran unopposed. Although Lewis was able to win by a
wide margin in earlier elections, it is more favorable to run unopposed. Therefore,
the bad publicity proved to benefit Lewis back in 1996 and could benefit him
again in 2014. This could suggest why Lewis is being very vocal and pointing
the finger at the GOP leadership in the House. For the last couple of
elections, Lewis’ hardest opponents come in the Democratic primary race for the
5th district of Georgia, rather than the general election. If Lewis
knows going into an election that he will run unopposed, it will be beneficial
to him because it will allow him to spend the majority of his funds on
defeating a challenger from his own party, rather than focusing on a challenger
from the Republican Party. Therefore, it is in his best interest to criticize
the Republican leadership in order to create a situation that is more conducive
to Lewis for re-election.
Sources:
The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/24/republicans-government-shutdown-obama
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