By Randell A. Monaco
February 23, 2011
In need of a strategy to rehabilitate their party from the economic disaster that has allowed Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, their associates in the Bush Administration government such as the Federal Reserve and others who let all this go on and enabled the disaster, Republicans needed to re-craft their image.
A purification strategy was needed to create the appearance of veering from the responsibility of Bush legacy which made that all possible. Conservatives also needed to reenergize their base and switch the public attention away from the real cause and people who are actually responsible. So, now it is teachers, police, firefighters, sanitation workers and their unions who have become the villains with their Rolls Royce healthcare benefits and pensions. The Big Government – Small Government debate continues with the assistance of a new diversionary tactic.
To overcome any suspicion that party leadership was not going to deliver on their promise to deliver major spending cuts to the public who supported them Republicans must now deal with the reality that they can’t enact their agenda because Democrats control the Senate and the White House. To save face, Republican leaders must dramatize their fight to carry out the promised agenda which leaves them no room to come out with a compromise.
Republican leaders have openly declared their hostility to compromise because they know that their support base, unlike moderates or even liberal Democrats, oppose compromise and as a matter of self interest and preservation the writing is on the wall, Republican’s will shut down the Government. Keep your eye on the political ball, here comes the shutdown; Tea anyone?
Passing the Fair Elections Now Act is an essential first step toward restoring trust in our democracy. But if we want to guarantee that nothing will stand in the way of fundamental reform, then we have to write this reform into our founding document, the Constitution itself.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Republican leaders -- rather than trying to put on even a facade of reasonableness -- have openly signaled their hostility to compromise:
ReplyDeleteBoehner: We have to govern. That's what we were elected to do.
Stahl: But governing means compromising.
Boehner: It means working together.
Stahl: It also means compromising.
Boehner: It means finding common ground.
Stahl: Okay, is that compromising?
Boehner: I made it clear I am not gonna compromise on my principles, nor am I gonna compromise…
Stahl: What are you saying?
Boehner: …the will of the American people.
Stahl: You're saying, "I want common ground, but I'm not gonna compromise." I don't understand that. I really don't.
Boehner: When you say the word "compromise"…a lot of Americans look up and go, "Uh-oh, they're gonna sell me out." And so finding common ground, I think, makes more sense.