The Doolittle Announcement

This morning John Doolittle announced he was not going to seek re-election. At one point in this blog I commented that his name Do-little fit his accomplishments. In his retirement statement he said the following:

"We have accomplished so much working together: Reforming the federal welfare entitlement to emphasize work, job training and education (producing a one-third reduction in the welfare rolls), continuation of funding for the anti-ballistic missile defense program (culminating in the deployment of the system to protect Americans against incoming missiles for the first time in our history), launching and prosecuting with vigor the war on Islamic terrorism, the rise of the Republican Party to majority status in the House of Representatives for the first time in five decades, and the enactment of tax provisions designed to stimulate job creation and economic growth for the long-term. We protected the Second Amendment and the right to own and enjoy private property secured by the Fifth Amendment.

Most importantly, our persistence was rewarded with the defeat of communism, the establishment of democracy for Eastern Europe, and the seeds of liberty planted for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. History will record that this era was a turning point for freedom. No rewrite of events will ever diminish these facts."

This was typical of the Congressman. On all of those things Doolittle was a consistent vote, but as for a firm legislative record where he provided significantly more than a vote, I can not think of any major legislation that he authored on any of those areas. If you go to his website and look at his legislative proposals most are either district based or are so narrow as to not stand a chance in being enacted. Legislators engage in the process of writing and working on legislation. When you look at his claims about what he accomplished most of it is taking credit (some it no doubt deserved) for district earmarks. He, like Strom Thurmond, spent a long time in the Congress and brought a lot home to his district but his legislative record, especially on those issues like welfare reform, is scant at best.

In fairness to the Congressman he would argue that his insider role paid off. Indeed, he argues that when he was Republican Conference secretary he was "the sixth ranking Republican leadership position in the House, placed Mr. Doolittle at the heart of the Republican House of Representatives, where he fought for limited, constitutional government, border security, spending restraint, constitutional campaign laws consistent with the letter and spirit of the First Amendment, responsible development of our national resources, energy self-sufficiency, and socially conservative policies including legal protection of the right to life, private property rights and the right to keep and bear arms. " If his key leadership role is accurate then he should also take credit for the defeat of the GOP majority (which were caused in part by the issue of earmarks). His rhetoric exceeded his accomplishments and the district will be better off with someone new.