Posted by
KenRep on Tuesday, March 03, 2009 11:48:19 PM
As Obama continues to make good on his promise to fundamentally "change" the nature of the American system, Republicans are arguing amongst themselves about....well just about everything. Is Rush Limbaugh a help or a hinderance? Is opposing the stimulus politically savvy or suicide? Are we attracting new voters or turning off the old ones? The only fact is that as usual the Democrats define and keep us talking about whatever THEY want us to.
My hope for the future of the party under Michael Steel has steadily declined over the last couple days as he has become embroiled in one controversy after another. Instead of creating the story HE is has become the story. As if there weren't enough talking heads in the system already, here are my last two cents from my little corner in California. Stop missing the trees while wandering in the forest.
1 Stop looking for a Republican counterpart to Obama. Continuing to laud Obama's remarkable speaking ability is keeping the myth of "the one" alive while simultaneously setting us up for failure - can you say Jindal? We do not need to mimick his intonation or pandering to the people - let's try sincerity as the perfect counterpoint.
2 Stop letting Democrats set the language of the day. Before Rush became the center of attention when he wished the failure of the Obama plans, I had been wandering around myself wondering why everyone was hoping Obama would succeed. We should have pointed that only Democrats and their bigotry of low expectations would ever have come up with the idea that Obama needed well wishes. I never heard anyone hope Clinton succeeded much less Bush.
3 Stop playing defense - start playing offense. My greatest frustration of the last 8 years was witnessing that the lies and distortions by the left went virtually unanswered by the Administration and the Party. The truth will not set us free when you live in a "Survivor" world where the strongest and smartest are routinely voted off the island. By all accounts Obama has been skating by on the work of others and it is time to start calling him out on it. As an example today Obama said the stock market was a daily tracking poll and that people should not pay attention. Where was the Republican response?
While I offer nothing profoundly new I am hopeful that keeping it to three action items we will stop panicking and start acting.