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Former VP Dan Quayle '69 Offers Praise of President Obama, Sees Challenges Ahead

Former VP Dan Quayle '69 Offers Praise of President Obama, Sees Challenges Ahead

July 19, 2009

Dan Quayle July 2009.jpgJuly 19, 2009, Greencastle, Ind. — "I think his biggest challenge is to tame the left wing of his party," America's 44th vice president, Dan Quayle, says of President Barack Obama. In an interview with the Associated Press, Quayle, a 1969 graduate of DePauw University, gives Obama "high marks for surrounding himself with quality advisers on national security and the economy," writes Scott Sonner. "But Quayle says it's not yet clear whether Obama's Democratic administration will govern more liberally than he campaigned."

Quayle, a Republican who served in the U.S. House and Senate before being selected as George H.W. Bush's running mate, says, "I guess we'll find out how 'left' Obama really is, because he's going to have to make some very tough decisions where he is either going to have to go with the left wing of his party or stare them down and govern more like (ex-president Bill) Clinton governed, which is sort of center-left." He adds, "He knows the deficit is menacing. Whether he is willing to stare down the left wing of his party and say, 'Guys, we've got to get this budget in order before we take on too many things,' I don't know."

While he praises Obama for selecting bush&quayle vn.jpg"good people" for his cabinet, Quayle sees the Democratic leadership of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as potential problems for the party in the mid-term elections. "We're the out party now," he tells AP. "We just need to focus on these congressional elections. I think Pelosi and Reid will help us in that endeavor."

Quayle is chairman of the international division of Cerberus Capital Management and president of Quayle and Associates. He was interviewed at the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where he is among the participants.

Access today's article at the Web site of the Houston Chronicle.

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