[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Sign-in] [Mail] [Setup] [Help]
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
|
Editorial See other Editorial Articles Title: The GOP's Dangerous and Destructive Brinksmanship Is About to Pay Off The GOP's Dangerous and Destructive Brinksmanship Is About to Pay Off The GOP has successfully created the meme that 'hopey, changey' politics are dead and that electoral participation doesn't really change anything. October 30, 2010 | LIKE THIS ARTICLE ? Join our mailing list: Sign up to stay up to date on the latest headlines via email. From outside of Washington, the process of politics appears to be hopelessly broken. After a stunning campaign that energized a new generation of voters, the Obama administration seems as dysfunctional as any that came before it. Hope and change have turned into the same old gridlock. From inside the Beltway, however, the origins of this political paralysis are clearer. Engineered by Republicans and enabled by Blue Dog Democrats, the plan to obstruct administration policies is expected to pay big dividends for Republicans on Tuesday. When Barack Obama executed a nearly flawless election campaign in 2008, the Republicans – who just five years prior expected to maintain a “permanent Republican majority” – faced an existential crisis. If Obama delivered on his promises, he could become the Bobby Kennedy who lived. Camelot II could have captured the imagination of a generation of young voters. Stopping Obama’s agenda and extinguishing that spark of hope was the GOP's only hope of long-term political survival. Their plan took nerve, but by toughing out the short-term criticisms from political pundits, the GOP plan to obstruct virtually every administration initiative – including ones the Republicans themselves had proposed in recent years – has succeeded in making the Democrats look inept (admittedly not an insurmountable objective). While there is certainly much to criticize in Democratic strategy, the Republicans understood that only a minority of American voters actually follow the details of Washington politics enough to lay the blame where it belongs. Most Americans see Washington as a political black box. They see the head on top of the box and they see what comes out the other end, but few follow the byzantine process by which the political sausage gets made. Many younger first-time voters thought they had changed the “head” atop the box from Bush to Obama so it should be crapping roses out the other end by now. The Republican strategy was to dash their expectations by obstructing the intestines inside the body politic. The Republican gambit was twofold. First, they mobilized the extremists from their base to make as much noise as possible. They shouted down members of Congress in town hall meetings with accusations of “Obamacare death panels” and other wild claims that terrorized Blue Dog Democrats into siding with the GOP. Second, and more importantly, they now had enough votes in the Senate to block major aspects of Obama’s agenda. It was there that the GOP would become the sphincter of Washington and constipate the political process. There was an inherent risk in the GOP strategy that the media might call them out and identify them as the source of the dysfunction, but unlike "American Idol" or "Dancing with the Stars," the narrative of politics is long and complicated. Undecided swing voters – the clueless ones who after eight years of Bush policies, still didn’t know which party they supported – were unlikely to follow the arcane procedural obstacles employed by Senate Republicans. They voted for change and Democrats weren’t delivering. While the political commentariat rightly characterized the GOP as the “party of NO,” the mainstream media did little to analyze the deliberate strategy of blockage and obstruction. Rather, they focused on the horse race aspect of politics by reporting on wins and losses. The Republicans rightly gambled that many voters – especially the new and undecided voters – would blame the head of the body rather than explore the messy and complicated guts. The GOP has successfully created the meme that “hopey, changey” politics are dead and that electoral participation doesn't really change anything. Many 18- to 30-year-old voters who helped bring Obama to power have become increasingly convinced that Washington will never change and that Obama represents business as usual. While there are many reasons to be cynical about Washington, those who stay home on Election Day will be enabling the ultimate act of cynicism by rewarding the Republican strategy of constipation and dysfunction. By not voting, they will be rewarding the assholes. Sanho Tree is a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC. This article expresses his personal opinions. * 1 View as a single page
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 34.
#15. To: tom007 (#0)
(Edited)
I had somehow hoped, obviously in futility, that we could disagree without being disagreeable. The Republicans have, I think, been extremely bad sports about the 2008 elections ... made it extremely difficult for the Dems to do much, even to address urgent crises ... and generally followed a "rule or ruin" gameplan. This unfortunately is an omen that, if the Republicans win majorities in the House and Senate, they will essentially block most Obama proposals and Obama will probably refuse to sign most Republican legislation, with the result that the rest of us will suffer, not from inferior solutions but from none at all. It now is my forelorn hope that the Republicans once in office will be more adult than on the campaign trail and actually devote their talents to moving this country forward. {PS: I think the voters will figure out the Republican gameplan by 2012 and the Dems will have a resurgence. Even the teapartiers will realize that Republicans throw away teabags once they're used.}
this is the reason our only hope (and i'm talking mustard seed size) for change is dumping out establishment elitist scumbags both R & D. let me be clear. i don't expect much. i am looking forward to the angst that this election, should there be a significant number unseated, of my favorite obots. you know of whom i speak.
The Tea Parties getting incumbents booted from the primaries is a good start.
Nope. The Tea Parties have put their money where their mouth is. There has been major problems between the Tea Parties and the beltway party, not just in the primaries. You and others like to say that those in the D.C. beltway are just one party. Finally when a new group of people stand up, has shown to have vast amount of political power, and start getting the incumbents thrown out, you attack the new group. You are a puppet for the beltway.
Well said, thank you.
You're welcome.
There are no replies to Comment # 34. End Trace Mode for Comment # 34.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest |
||
|
[Home]
[Headlines]
[Latest Articles]
[Latest Comments]
[Post]
[Sign-in]
[Mail]
[Setup]
[Help]
|
||