An Oklahoma Republican and friend of Linda Lingle stopped by Kailua-Kona Monday to talk about national politics and campaign for the former governor, who is running for the U.S. Senate. An Oklahoma Republican and friend of Linda Lingle stopped by
An Oklahoma Republican and friend of Linda Lingle stopped by Kailua-Kona Monday to talk about national politics and campaign for the former governor, who is running for the U.S. Senate.
U.S. Rep. Tom Cole defended Congress, which he noted has low approval ratings, noting accomplishments and things his party members have prevented from happening. Those accomplishments include extending the Bush tax cuts, which was done via a compromise that also extended President Barack Obama’s payroll tax cuts, as well as significant spending cuts, something Congress hadn’t approved in decades.
Republicans aren’t getting enough credit for what kind of legislation they’re stopping, he said, noting Democrats have not been able to pass another stimulus fund package or major package like Obama’s Affordable Health Care Act, since Republicans took control of the House in 2010.
“There are limits to what a country as diverse as we are politically can accomplish,” Cole said. “The only thing that worries me now as an American is the incredible pessimism we have as a country.”
People worry, he added, that the United States is slipping to second-tier status as a country. That isn’t the case, and won’t be the case going forward, Cole said.
He noted other times in American history when things were much worse, including during the Civil War, when 600,000 Americans were killed because they couldn’t “resolve their differences.” That’s not going to happen now, he added.
Even some newly elected Republican representatives may not recognize how much they have gotten done, Cole said, and their Republican constituents are so angry, in general, that they don’t recognize it, either.
This year’s elections are critically important, he said.
“This next election in some ways is about breaking the tie” between Democrats and Republicans, Cole said. “The cast of characters elected in November are going to be making consequential decisions. The next Congress will make bigger decisions than this Congress made.”
Cole, who supports the Akaka Bill, which would give Native Hawaiians the same rights to self-govern as other indigneous people in the United States, said Lingle would be able to help the measure get Senate approval. The bill has long had strong Democratic support from Hawaii’s congressional delegation, Cole said, but having a Republican senator from the state providing such approval might be more persuasive.
He said he doesn’t see any differences between Native Hawaiians and Native Alaskans and American Indian tribes, which are federally recognized and may self-govern.
“I don’t see the big threat” in recognizing Hawaiians, he said. “It’s a matter of equity and a matter of respecting the wishes of the people of Hawaii.”
Cole is the only Native American serving in Congress. He is enrolled as a member of the Chickasaw Nation.
He said he could see people, down the road, turning the arguments against recognizing Native Hawaiians into arguments to end federal recognition of Alaskan and Native American groups.
