This morning, newly re-elected California Republican Congressman John Doolittle already sent out a press release announcing his candidacy for re-election to House Leadership, to the position of Conference Secretary.
John Doolittle’s release is long in terms of listing all kinds of administrative things he has done to make the life of Republican Members of Congress easier — but is completely silent in the area where it counts: an analysis of the GOP defeat, what the role of the House Leadership (of which is a part) was in that defeat (or conversely if he feels that the House Leadership was not to blame, then what was to blame).
In light of the drubbing that we just took in the last elections, John Doolittle (Californian or not) and every member of the House Leadership team that wants to keep their job need to articulate publicly what went wrong, and what they think needs to happen in the next Congress to regain the majority, and what they would do if they had it.
The launching of helpful websites and publishing of convenient newsletters are nifty accomplishments — but Doolittle needs to raise the level of the debate. And that would, it seems, start by acknowledging that the House Leadership Team of which he is a part just presided over electoral defeat. Why did that happen, and how do we change our actions today to effect our future tomorrow? Does Doolittle feel that anyone in the House Leadership should be removed from their posts?
John Doolittle is a friend – I am thrilled he was re-elected. But everyone running for party office needs to enter the debate over what happenned, and what needs to happen differently, and in the case of Doolittle, how a new direction is taken by retaining him in leadership.
Attached is Doolittle’s announcement release — hopefully to be followed with a ‘what went wrong and why this member of leadership should be retained in light of the election results.’
November 8th, 2006 at 12:00 am
As a Democrat, I’m not one to really hel pick GOP leaders. But Doolittle? Really?
One of the things people said in polling was that they were concerned about corruption. Doolittle needs to put his ethical house in order before pursuing leadership in the next Congress. The scandals that he is involved in, whether true or not, including the recent WaPo report on foreign governments paying for his vacation with his daughter, put a nasty whiff.
As a Democratic candidate, you can use that. But, that’s just my own, very humble, opinion.
November 8th, 2006 at 12:00 am
After hearing Doolittle on Tom Sullivan’s show today, I’m also concerned about whether he “got the message” that voters sent to Congress yesterday. In explaining why he thought he was able to retain his seat, he recounted a long list of pork barrel projects he’s brought home to his district in the last few years. Uh, Congressman, you still don’t get it.