John Boehner

Attempting to create political leverage wherever they can find it rather than put work into getting America back on track, McConnell and Boner sent a letter to the President of the United States demanding he not do what George W. Bush did:

Republican leaders in Congress have warned President Obama against any attempts to pass last-minute regulations if he loses reelection this year.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) sent a letter to Obama Wednesday urging him not to pass any “midnight regulations.”

Outgoing presidents typically leave some of their most controversial executive orders until the final days of their term to avoid an expected public backlash.

Something tells me Mitch and Boehn might be getting a bit ahead of themselves.

From WaPo — one wonders where Mitch’s concern was when his own wife was doing the deed:

The letter did not refer to any such regulatory changes made by previous presidents, but McConnell’s wife, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, was accused of moving with unusual speed in the final months of George W. Bush’s presidency to push through a rule making it tougher to regulate workers’ on-the-job exposure to chemicals and toxins.

The Labor Department quietly posted the proposal in July 2008, before Obama’s eventual victory, and the move angered workplace-safety advocates, labor unions and congressional Democrats, who accused the Bush administration of doing exactly what Republicans now hope Obama will avoid repeating.

In the final months of Bush’s term, federal worker union leaders also pushed to ensure that the White House was not improperly awarding political appointees with senior career government positions at the expense of more qualified workers. But at least 20 Bush-era appointees successfully bypassed the normal federal hiring process and “burrowed in” to career jobs.

And it wasn’t just Mitch McConnell’s wife doing the last-minute regulatin’ back in ’08… it was the entire corrupt Bush Administration:

After spending eight years at the helm of one of the most ideologically driven administrations in American history, George W. Bush is ending his presidency in characteristically aggressive fashion, with a swath of controversial measures designed to reward supporters and enrage opponents.

By the time he vacates the White House, he will have issued a record number of so-called ‘midnight regulations’ – so called because of the stealthy way they appear on the rule books – to undermine the administration of Barack Obama, many of which could take years to undo.

Dozens of new rules have already been introduced which critics say will diminish worker safety, pollute the environment, promote gun use and curtail abortion rights. Many rules promote the interests of large industries, such as coal mining or energy, which have energetically supported Bush during his two terms as president. More are expected this week.

America’s attention is focused on the fate of the beleaguered car industry, still seeking backing in Washington for a multi-billion-dollar bail-out. But behind the scenes, the ‘midnight’ rules are being rushed through with little fanfare and minimal media attention. None of them would be likely to appeal to the incoming Obama team.

The regulations cover a vast policy area, ranging from healthcare to car safety to civil liberties. Many are focused on the environment and seek to ease regulations that limit pollution or restrict harmful industrial practices, such as dumping strip-mining waste.

All Americans — Republican and Democrat alike — are likely shocked by the hypocrisy of Mitch McConnell and John Boehner.