What It Means
By Chris | Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 | PoliticsAs the dust settles from the game-changing victory of Scott Brown in Massachusetts last night, political observers everywhere are trying to sort through the wreckage and glean some insights into our immediate political future. While there are going to many narratives constructed and discarded over the next few days and weeks, I think there are a few things we Republicans should focus on going forward.
Bottom line, it should be clear after the elections in VA, NJ, and MA that voters across the nation do not support the radical policies that are currently being promoted by the President and his Congressional allies. These policies, not candidates or campaigns or any such thing, are the common thread that binds these election results and they will continue to have an impact as we move further into 2010. However, if Republicans are going to be successful in 2010, they must also understand why so much frustration exists in the electorate.
Republicans must not make the mistake of thinking that we have all of a sudden won back the trust of American voters after getting trounced in 2006 and 2008. Independents are still independents, not Republicans, and they can just as quickly swing back the other direction. These voters are expressing their displeasure with the status quo in Washington by punishing the party in power, the Democrats. This anger stems from a lack of progress and a lack of focus on issues that voters truly care about.
These issues are jobs and the economy, profligate spending, rapid government growth, and national security. A focus over the past year on health care, cap and trade, card check and other partisan priorities has driven voters away from a Democratic Party they see as out of touch. Focus on the former set of concerns is what has been successful for Bob McDonnell and Scott Brown, and GOP candidates this fall would be wise to emulate them.
If, after 2010, Republicans can be successful in proving themselves as responsible stewards of the government, then they may be positioned to make a case for a broader electoral shift in 2012. As it stands, however, the Massachusetts Miracle only gives the GOP an opportunity to be heard. It does NOT entitle our Party to anything. Ultimately, it will be up to our candidates to close the deal by listening to their constituents and proving they can be trusted with the reins of power once again.
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About the author
Chris Obenshain has been involved in Republican politics literally since the womb, when he attended Virginia's famous 1978 Convention in utero. 30 years later he still can't get politics out of his bloodstream. He currently works as a lawyer in southwest Virginia and serves as Chairman of the Roanoke Area Young Republicans chapter. As Old Zach, he helped found the blog Sic Semper Tyrannis in 2004 and has been blogging off and on ever since. He has also proudly served in the United States Army Reserve since 2002.
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5 Responses to "What It Means"
Right now there are over 2000 bills entered in this years GA calendar. Most of them are meaningless commendations, favored tax exemptions and other crap. Yet for some reason the GOP is now our guiding light of salvation because some guy in Boston decided to use a pickup truck as an election prop instead of Webb’s combat boots.
Here’s a news flash in case you missed it. We don’t care if our neighbor wants to buy a damn monkey or whether 7-11 should be forced by penalty to open up their employee bathrooms to customers. The prudent thing for politicians in this electoral environment would be to boil those 2000 bills down to about the most important 40, and hit the streets to convince the citizens why we should support their passage. And the politician’s continued employment.
Darrell – here’s a news flash: most of those bills will be passed without debate or thrown out in committee – important ones will actually make it to the floor for a vote and the most important ones will take all session to debate, reconcile, and pass – and they will be the ones we hear the most about.
Great post, Chris. It’s all about doing what’s right for the people, and I think you captured the environment of what’s happening amongst the electorate perfectly.
What it means_ That health care reform is probably dead. That’s okay, I guess. Without a meaningful public option, it’s certainly not worth anyone rising their seats over. It also means that America can no longer make meaningful major changes and that the country is essentially ungoverbale by either the left or the right because we’re too stupid, lazy and selfish.
Steve, if we as a people were too stupid, lazy, and selfish as you claim, then we would surely embrace “Big Government”. We would ask to be taken care of.
BTW, I saw on your other post that you are quitting tobacco. I wish you the best on that effort. You can do it.
Britt-avoiding an arguement over what “big government” means – I’d contend that there is not small government party, there’s just a disagreemtn over what big government should do — stupid, lazy and selfish makes us unwilling to sacrifice in the national interest, unable to weigh long-term benefits against short-term costs, easy victims for demagogues with no compunctions about lying to drum up votes, more ready to swallow the “party line” from whichever party we lean to and inclined to not give a damn.
The fact that America, still the richest and most poweful country in the world, can’t get it together to give our people the same access to basic health care enjoyed by the citizens of every other civilized country in the world, illustrates that we are no longer a serious people.
Don’t look behind the curtain and see the man from the insurance company shoveling money into your legislator’s pocket, just go back to watching “American Idol” and let your betters take care of running the country.
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