[1]The GOP had a wonderful opportunity during the State of the Union Address Tuesday.
America expressed its lack of confidence in the Pelosi-led House with the most sweeping shift in power in a lifetime. The biggest stage to give America a visual clue of that change came and went Tuesday night and Republicans blinked.
Dem calls for ‘solidarity’ and ‘civility’ by turning the speech into bipartisan date night (with the exception of Pelosi’s snub of Cantor [2]) led to the unprecedented diffusion of the party divide. Instead of seeing which side of the aisle was supportive of different aspects of the president’s speech, America was treated to a mixed crowd. Some of the GOP congressmen seemed to engage in zombie-clapping when they realized they were surrounded by Dems clapping enthusiastically…another nod to ‘civility.’
No matter what happens for the next two years, the first big visual of the new class and old guard Republicans was stolen. The Dem House minority conned the new majority with a head-fake on a ‘minor’ issue and the majority flinched…Score: Alpha dog – 1, the really big Omega dog – 0.
Once more Pelosi smiles and gets to ask, “who’s your daddy be-atch??” If the new majority can’t outmaneuver the minority on a camera-op, it could be a long two years indeed.
For a clue on what the GOP should be doing as the “last redoubt” of power in government: see State Senate Democrats [3].