{"id":818,"date":"2013-07-05T07:00:48","date_gmt":"2013-07-05T11:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/?p=818"},"modified":"2013-07-04T14:52:15","modified_gmt":"2013-07-04T18:52:15","slug":"john-feehery-guest-post-leaders-and-followers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/john-feehery-guest-post-leaders-and-followers\/","title":{"rendered":"John Feehery Guest Post: Leaders and Followers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>


John Fee\u00adhery is pres\u00adi\u00addent of Quinn Gille\u00adspie Com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtions and spent 15 years work\u00ading in the House Repub\u00adli\u00adcan lead\u00ader\u00adship. He blogs at www.thefeeherytheory.com<\/p><\/div>\n

At my gym, they put lit\u00adtle inspi\u00adra\u00adtional quotes up on the wall to get you to work out hard\u00ader (that\u2019s the the\u00ado\u00adry, at least).<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Lead, fol\u00adlow, or get out of the way,\u201d was last Tuesday\u2019s quote, attrib\u00aduted to the Marine\u2019s hand\u00adbook, which was a rev\u00ade\u00adla\u00adtion to me. I always thought that Lee Iacoc\u00adca was the man who first said that mem\u00ado\u00adrable phrase when he was try\u00ading to fix Chrysler.<\/p>\n

This quote must haunt Con\u00adgres\u00adsion\u00adal Repub\u00adli\u00adcans on both sides of the Capi\u00adtol dome.<\/p>\n

In the House, the fol\u00adlow\u00aders aren\u2019t fol\u00adlow\u00ading the Lead\u00aders. In the Sen\u00adate, the Lead\u00aders aren\u2019t fol\u00adlow\u00ading the followers.<\/p>\n

Over 60 Repub\u00adli\u00adcans refused to fol\u00adlow the Com\u00admit\u00adtee Chair\u00adman and the Lead\u00ader\u00adship in vot\u00ading for a Farm bill in the House two weeks ago. That didn\u2019t bode well for the even\u00adtu\u00adal pas\u00adsage of the Immi\u00adgra\u00adtion bill or for a bud\u00adget deal that would keep the gov\u00adern\u00adment oper\u00adat\u00ading a full capacity.<\/p>\n

In the Upper Cham\u00adber, not one mem\u00adber of the Sen\u00adate Repub\u00adli\u00adcan lead\u00ader\u00adship vot\u00aded with Mar\u00adco Rubio and the Gang of Eight\u2019s immi\u00adgra\u00adtion reform bill. Not one.<\/p>\n

Ear\u00adli\u00ader this year, not one mem\u00adber of the Sen\u00adate Repub\u00adli\u00adcan lead\u00ader\u00adship vot\u00aded with Pat Toomey in his gun show loop\u00adhole bill.<\/p>\n

In oth\u00ader words, two for\u00admer Tea Par\u00adty favorites, who stuck their necks out to get some\u00adthing accom\u00adplished, got no back-up from their own lead\u00aders and were left hanging.<\/p>\n

Now, there might be good rea\u00adsons why lead\u00aders desert\u00aded their fol\u00adlow\u00aders and why the fol\u00adlow\u00aders desert\u00aded their leaders.<\/p>\n

For good rea\u00adson, just about every Sen\u00ada\u00adtor and House Mem\u00adber is wor\u00adried about a pri\u00adma\u00adry chal\u00adlenge, and some might just dis\u00adagree on the poli\u00adcies that were involved in one of these pieces of legislation.<\/p>\n

But Con\u00adgres\u00adsion\u00adal Repub\u00adli\u00adcans will not sur\u00advive if the Lead\u00aders and Fol\u00adlow\u00aders don\u2019t coor\u00addi\u00adnate bet\u00adter. They have to have uni\u00adfied mes\u00adsage if they want to beat Oba\u00adma and the Democ\u00adrats. They have to agree on a com\u00admon set of tac\u00adtics and a big\u00adger strate\u00adgic vision. They have to dis\u00adcour\u00adage hot-dog\u00adging and folks going out on their own.<\/p>\n

As Ben Franklin said dur\u00ading the hottest peri\u00adods of the Rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion\u00adary War, they have to hang togeth\u00ader or sure\u00adly they will hang separately.<\/p>\n

I know this sounds eas\u00adi\u00ader than it real\u00adly is to achieve. I know the vast dif\u00adfer\u00adences between the House and the Sen\u00adate, and I know the geo\u00adgraph\u00adi\u00adcal dis\u00adpar\u00adi\u00adties that some\u00adtimes inspire pret\u00adty intense dif\u00adfer\u00adences of opin\u00adion with\u00adin the respec\u00adtive GOP<\/span> conferences.<\/p>\n

But this isn\u2019t sup\u00adposed to be easy. It is sup\u00adposed to be hard.<\/p>\n

There may be a method to the mad\u00adness. Per\u00adhaps let\u00adting Toomey go off on his own helps him in Penn\u00adsyl\u00adva\u00adnia, which is a pur\u00adple state (and that is being char\u00adi\u00adta\u00adble to the Republicans)<\/p>\n

But if Repub\u00adli\u00adcans are to beat Oba\u00adma and the Democ\u00adrats in the Fall show\u00addown, they have to march togeth\u00ader as one team. They have to per\u00adform flaw\u00adless\u00adly. They have sing off the same hym\u00adnal, beat their drums in prop\u00ader time, they have to share the same strate\u00adgic vision and agree on the right tactics.<\/p>\n

If they do all of that, they will be successful.<\/p>\n

But if the Tea Par\u00adty con\u00adtin\u00adues to go its own way, if the North\u00adeast\u00adern Repub\u00adli\u00adcans go their own way, if the Appro\u00adpri\u00ada\u00adtors go their own way, or if the lead\u00ader\u00adship goes its own way, the Pres\u00adi\u00addent, despite his appar\u00adent lack of inter\u00adest in actu\u00adal\u00adly leg\u00adis\u00adlat\u00ading, will score a smash\u00ading victory.<\/p>\n

In Con\u00adgress, not every\u00adbody can be a Leader. The lead\u00aders have to lead, the fol\u00adlow\u00aders have to fol\u00adlow, and every\u00adbody else should shut up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At my gym, they put lit\u00adtle inspi\u00adra\u00adtional quotes up on the wall to get you to work out hard\u00ader (that\u2019s the the\u00ado\u00adry, at least). \u201cLead, fol\u00adlow, or get out of the way,\u201d was last Tuesday\u2019s quote, attrib\u00aduted to the Marine\u2019s hand\u00adbook, \u2026 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading \u2192<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"nfd_image_url":"","nfd_onboarding_generated":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,328,19],"tags":[382,374,378,1194,270,377,381,384,30,330,376,373,379,372,47,380,271,383,29,166],"class_list":["post-818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-debt-ceiling","category-immigration","category-politics","tag-ben-franklin","tag-chrysler","tag-committee-chairman","tag-congress","tag-democrats","tag-farm-bill","tag-gang-of-eight","tag-gop","tag-house","tag-immigration-reform","tag-leadership","tag-lee-iacocca","tag-marco-rubio","tag-marines","tag-obama","tag-pat-toomey","tag-republicans","tag-revolutionary-war","tag-senate","tag-tea-party"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t