8.18.2010
The GOP's silly season of no-ideas governance hopes
Welcome to August, the political silly season. The media-fueled silly season, when Congress is not in session and matters of grave national importance occupy our attention. Town hall protests, Danny Almonte, Elian Gonzalez, shark attacks making Jaws our #1 national enemy. I don't know how the November elections will turn out, but this issue will clarify as we get out of the traditional silly season of August.
The GOP theme is "anger towards Obama over the lack of jobs". Let's look at how Republicans are addressing what they're presenting as their main theme: jobs, jobs, jobs.
What's their position? It certainly has little to do with jobs. In fact, their ONLY solution to the jobs issue is to give more money away to the wealthiest 1% through a full extension of the Bush tax cuts. That's it. That may play with the wingnut base who have been opposed to Obama since before Day One, but I'm not sure how a moderate electorate will respond to that canard.
The "Kenyan messiah", "give me back my 'Merica" bashing started before Obama even took the oath of office. Which brings us to the sub-theme, directed at the Tea Party portion of the base: "Obama taking away OUR America". The GOP has thus far had a fairly successful time conflating the two issues. They say "jobs, jobs, jobs" but spend the majority of the time cranking up the xenophobia machine. The Republican plan for fixing the economy is apparently trying to convince Americans that foreigners are bad. They've got lots of things to say about immigration (mostly fabrications) and terror babies and Muslims (mostly outright lies), but not a word about the economy.
The question is, how is this going to play with swing voters once we get out of the silly season? If your rallying cry is "jobs", then you'd best have some proposals, and the GOP has none.
How's THAT gonna play with swing voters? The GOP needs to be sure that their plans, or lack thereof, are going to get a full screening in the light of day. When it counts. Which is not August.
On one hand you have a president who is winding down an unpopular war in Iraq that he didn't start. He kept his word and passed comprehensive health care AND Wall Street reform in 18 months - a remarkable record.
His economic policies might not have produced jobs in the numbers we wanted, but they certainly saved them. Look at the graphic to the right, because it sets up the economic choices that Americans will have to make this fall. On one hand, you have a President who made the difficult choices over the clanging of GOP obstructionism and pulled the economy back from the brink of depression.
He also did it while fighting an established trend of GOP "NO" votes and obstructionism along the way. Trust me, those ads are going to be run down your throat. You know, the ones where Boehner and McConnell demonize families who are still out of work, those "99ers". The ones of whom Glenn Beck says "Some of these people, I bet you'd be ashamed to call them Americans.".
Do they really want to run on Boehner's comment comparing the economic and unemployment problems to an "ant"?
Yeah, we've got obstructionist sound bites.
Ultimately though, there's this schizophrenic dichotomy where on one hand, they want to stop unemployment "hand outs". So they yell "get a job". But the jobs are not there and they've done everything in their power to stop the President from enacting reform or providing relief.
Stop government spending, they scream, except when it's the Bush tax cuts which, at full extension, will balloon the deficit only to put money in the hands of the ultra-wealthy.
Small government, they scream. Except when they want to demonize Muslims over a community center in New York City as some sort of terrorist plot to dishonor the victims and responders of 9/11 by training new terrorists on hallowed ground. Then government should intervene in any way possible.
They want to have their cake, and eat it too. In the end, they have no agenda other than an anti-Obama agenda.
If these criticisms came from a source that gave Obama a legitimate shot and THEN decided they didn't like his policies (some of which many progressives disagree with), I'd be worried. But it comes from a group of bitter white men that started this "Kenyan messiah" nonsense before he was even sworn in.
And think about this: 2012 is going to require that the GOP turn around states they lost in 2008. They need to pick up 99 electoral votes from 2008. Look at the electoral map and tell me how, with the MASSIVE demonization of Hispanics that they've engaged in, how they're going to win?
If the Republicans can take back MT, MD, CO, VA, NC, FL, OH, IN and you've got a squeaker of a win, picking up 101 votes. What are the odds of that? in addition to that miracle, the GOP had better be able to hold on to AZ, NM and TX, all of whom, along with Florida have rising Hispanic populations whom the GOP has entirely tossed away this summer. To accomplish this, they'd best have ideas beyond, "foreigners are bad and give more money to the wealthy". As of now they have neither those ideas, or a credible candidate to push them.
Palin? Never, her numbers are in the tank, with favorable ratings in the low 30's. Gingrich? Right, read this month's Esquire. Huckabee and the jump-for-Jesus wing? Never. Mitt Romney and the Eternal Suntan of the Thoughtless Mind? Sure....
So rejoice in your spot polling, but remember: Reagan was in worse shape than this in 1982 and we all know how that lead to President Mondale.
The GOP theme is "anger towards Obama over the lack of jobs". Let's look at how Republicans are addressing what they're presenting as their main theme: jobs, jobs, jobs.
What's their position? It certainly has little to do with jobs. In fact, their ONLY solution to the jobs issue is to give more money away to the wealthiest 1% through a full extension of the Bush tax cuts. That's it. That may play with the wingnut base who have been opposed to Obama since before Day One, but I'm not sure how a moderate electorate will respond to that canard.
The "Kenyan messiah", "give me back my 'Merica" bashing started before Obama even took the oath of office. Which brings us to the sub-theme, directed at the Tea Party portion of the base: "Obama taking away OUR America". The GOP has thus far had a fairly successful time conflating the two issues. They say "jobs, jobs, jobs" but spend the majority of the time cranking up the xenophobia machine. The Republican plan for fixing the economy is apparently trying to convince Americans that foreigners are bad. They've got lots of things to say about immigration (mostly fabrications) and terror babies and Muslims (mostly outright lies), but not a word about the economy.
The question is, how is this going to play with swing voters once we get out of the silly season? If your rallying cry is "jobs", then you'd best have some proposals, and the GOP has none.
How's THAT gonna play with swing voters? The GOP needs to be sure that their plans, or lack thereof, are going to get a full screening in the light of day. When it counts. Which is not August.
On one hand you have a president who is winding down an unpopular war in Iraq that he didn't start. He kept his word and passed comprehensive health care AND Wall Street reform in 18 months - a remarkable record.
His economic policies might not have produced jobs in the numbers we wanted, but they certainly saved them. Look at the graphic to the right, because it sets up the economic choices that Americans will have to make this fall. On one hand, you have a President who made the difficult choices over the clanging of GOP obstructionism and pulled the economy back from the brink of depression.He also did it while fighting an established trend of GOP "NO" votes and obstructionism along the way. Trust me, those ads are going to be run down your throat. You know, the ones where Boehner and McConnell demonize families who are still out of work, those "99ers". The ones of whom Glenn Beck says "Some of these people, I bet you'd be ashamed to call them Americans.".
Do they really want to run on Boehner's comment comparing the economic and unemployment problems to an "ant"?
Yeah, we've got obstructionist sound bites.
Ultimately though, there's this schizophrenic dichotomy where on one hand, they want to stop unemployment "hand outs". So they yell "get a job". But the jobs are not there and they've done everything in their power to stop the President from enacting reform or providing relief.
Stop government spending, they scream, except when it's the Bush tax cuts which, at full extension, will balloon the deficit only to put money in the hands of the ultra-wealthy.
Small government, they scream. Except when they want to demonize Muslims over a community center in New York City as some sort of terrorist plot to dishonor the victims and responders of 9/11 by training new terrorists on hallowed ground. Then government should intervene in any way possible.
They want to have their cake, and eat it too. In the end, they have no agenda other than an anti-Obama agenda.
If these criticisms came from a source that gave Obama a legitimate shot and THEN decided they didn't like his policies (some of which many progressives disagree with), I'd be worried. But it comes from a group of bitter white men that started this "Kenyan messiah" nonsense before he was even sworn in.
And think about this: 2012 is going to require that the GOP turn around states they lost in 2008. They need to pick up 99 electoral votes from 2008. Look at the electoral map and tell me how, with the MASSIVE demonization of Hispanics that they've engaged in, how they're going to win? If the Republicans can take back MT, MD, CO, VA, NC, FL, OH, IN and you've got a squeaker of a win, picking up 101 votes. What are the odds of that? in addition to that miracle, the GOP had better be able to hold on to AZ, NM and TX, all of whom, along with Florida have rising Hispanic populations whom the GOP has entirely tossed away this summer. To accomplish this, they'd best have ideas beyond, "foreigners are bad and give more money to the wealthy". As of now they have neither those ideas, or a credible candidate to push them.
Palin? Never, her numbers are in the tank, with favorable ratings in the low 30's. Gingrich? Right, read this month's Esquire. Huckabee and the jump-for-Jesus wing? Never. Mitt Romney and the Eternal Suntan of the Thoughtless Mind? Sure....
So rejoice in your spot polling, but remember: Reagan was in worse shape than this in 1982 and we all know how that lead to President Mondale.
The mosque? Sure, I'll get the water too.
So much has been said, so I'll leave it to two brilliant voices. First, Keith Olbermann's Special Comment, which might be among his finest ever. And Jon Stewart and John Oliver, who are devastatingly awesome.
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