Sunday, March 8, 2009

Somebody else said it best...

I had an entire post prepared on this topic. I'm not saying I won't publish it in the future, but David Frum said it far better in Newsweek.


I don't agree with everything here (I don't believe Rush is actually a fan of Reagan, I think he just likes the reaction he gets by invoking Reagan's name), but one thing is certain: if we let Rush speak for the GOP, we're finished.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Republican revolution, round two...maybe.

President Obama is enjoying legendary popularity these days. Even Republican stalwarts are cautious in their criticism, attacking the policy and not the man (as it should be, by the way). Regardless of job approval, he has an Achilles' heel. His weakness is the same body which gives him his greatest political strength: a Democratic congress.

Our founding fathers may not have envisioned a two-party system, and I guarantee that one-party rule would have terrified them. Our system just wasn't designed to function without debate and opposing viewpoints.

The Republican revolution of 1994 is a prime example. Many people have forgotten just how unpopular President Clinton was in the early years of his presidency. Large tax increases and a disastrous healthcare proposal defined his agenda and served to doom the Democratic Party in those mid-term races. Such policies never would have made it as far as they did if they would have faced an opposition congress. The policies would have been non-starters, Clinton wouldn't have spent his opening years getting (rightfully) blamed by the GOP, and his approval ratings would have been far higher. If his party hadn't lost so badly in 1994, I believe he would have been a one-term executive.

Some might make the argument that having an opposition congress for these last few years didn't help the GOP. I have to disagree by saying that nothing could have help this past year's GOP ticket. I'll go a step further and say that we lost the race the instant that Palin was announced as McCain's running mate.

If the GOP doesn't find a way to reach outside the base that Palin represents, there is almost no chance for recovery any time soon. Pandering to the small percentage of the base that Palin represents is not a strategy...at least not a successful one. The GOP needs to look beyond the small but loud minority and broaden its appeal, leading to a Republican revolution of 2010. More on that to come.