From a media standpoint, the post-inauguration political climate is a refreshing change of pace from what were the grueling final hours of the Bush era, but that’s not to say the country’s condition has drastically improved. The fervor and momentum generated during the meteoric rise of Barack Obama set high expectations for the President and his party. And now they are at odds with each other, pushing the health care debate to take an errant left turn, which leaves us starry-eyed Americans with two inept political parties.
When George Bush left office he didn’t just leave behind a litany of foreign policy disasters and millions of crestfallen citizens who’d just been robbed at warp speed. He left behind an entire political party full of panic stricken nimrods who are now just crawling out of their beds with hangovers after an eight year long DC cocktail party. Since President Obama took office, the behavior of our understandably frantic Repulican party has become increasingly bizarre. Their image tarnished by the legacy of the Bush administration, the GOP finds itself in a sort of us-against-the-world standoff and any chance of a political revival doesn’t seem anywhere within the realm of possibility (at least not any time soon).
Results from a July Gallup poll have suggested that a majority of conservative Americans struggled when asked to identify a leading voice in the GOP, leaving talk radio host Rush Limbaugh in the lead with 13%. Aware of the obvious implications of recognizing a man who’s most notorious for spending his days in a vicodin haze and demonizing everything to the left of Ronald Reagan as their political mouth-piece, the Republicans resorted to a more media-friendly position and announced earlier this summer that the party lacked leadership.
But the claim that the GOP lacks leadership was really nothing more than a laughably transparent PR move; a lame attempt to quietly distance themselves from the very demagoguery that has reduced a once frighteningly effective political force to a group of clods slightly less popular than the last two M. Night Shamalayan movies. From RNC chairman Michael Steele’s mortifying diatribe to the recently televised meltdowns of Sarah Palin and Mark Sanford, it seems that the Republicans have just been throwing wood onto their fire. But this new trend in self-destruction doesn’t stop at the aforementioned buffoonery. What’s really most stunning is their inability to establish an effective strategy.
It might sound ignorant and, I suppose, even redundant to criticize the Republicans for being unpopular. Hell, if anything, they should be less popular than they are now. However, its unfair to say the GOP have no realistic chance of yielding support because it’s not as if the Democrat’s have been notably impressive.
Economic recovery has been sluggish and some of the President’s early policy decisions have been, well, unnerving. For instance, the sudden flip flop regarding the topic of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’— a military policy Obama spoke so outwardly against along the campaign trail— has even the president’s most fervent supporters at sea. And after enduring the “Less about Wall Street, more about Main Street” platitude over and over in the wake of last year’s financial meltdown, Obama has appointed none other than bailout architect, Henry Paulson’s former wingman, Timothy Geithner to oversee changes to the financial system. Regardless of your undying optimism and hope for this administration, it’s difficult to ignore these less than pleasant contradictions and if the GOP alluded to these legitimate, yet debatable, arguments more often, they just might see some signs of political resurgence.
But seeing that Republicans haven’t presented any solutions of their own I may be jumping the gun to suggest that the administrations’ shortcomings necessarily help the GOP. Either way, it’s not only the semi-idle and sometimes contradicting nature of the Obama administration that is unsettling.
While the uninformed masses ambush town halls to protest a yet-to-be-finalized health care plan, Democrats continue to butt heads, squandering away their chance at real reform. The issue of Health Care was a centerpiece during Obama’s campaign and with nearly 50 million Americans uninsured today, the need for true reform is more dire than ever. But the overpowering influence of Insurance giants and other vested health care interests have been working to alter the outcome of legislation, threatening to turn the first chapter in this much-anticipated era of change into another all too familiar episode of Democratic Blunder.
Now the Health Care debate isn’t just this season’s most watched political spectacle. It’s a classic example of how quickly political discourse in this country can be derailed by half-truths, fear and corporate influence (the essence of the Republican Party). And to see Democrats double down so blithely, despite their overwhelming majority, is more than just infuriating. If our government is going to just stand by while two-bit hacks like Max Baucus hijack the process and run the entire thing into the ground, then what good are they really?
Although at the end of the day there is a faint glimmer of hope. Progressive Democrats in the house have been imploring Obama to continue his pursuit for a public option and, in tonight’s speech, the President will reiterate his position. I still like Obama, for a lot of reasons. For the first time in nearly a decade we have a President who seems like he actually cares about the American people. One that, unlike his predecessors, refuses to so brazenly embrace politics of fear and misinformation. And I think even the most hardened cynic can see the value in that. With the country in such a crippled state, we need a President who can lift the spirits of Americans as much as we need one who is legislatively successful.
Oh and as for Democrats re-election in 2010: Don’t worry about it, because the Republicans seem to be doing everything in their power to ensure that.
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