The Republicans have lost their collective (fill in the blank). I am not even saying that as a partisan Democrat. I am saying that as a thinking person, with all five senses intact and a complete set of firing neurons.
Having been raised in a family of Republicans (my mother’s side) and a Reagan Democrat (my father), I might have become a Republican, as might many in my generation had it not been for the odious George W. Bush. Balancing the budget, turning deficits into surpluses (something Clinton accomplished), sharpening the edge of our military’s technology while seeking to blunt that of others, securing the border with Mexico, and putting rapists and child molesters out of our misery (via the death penalty) are all good ideas. In fact, they are excellent ideas.
Yet it is not the Republicans’ policies that I rebuke entirely as much as it is their conduct as of late.
Consider the individuals who have emerged as the de facto leaders of the Republican Party. First up at bat, we have Michael Steele (the chairman of the RNC) who, since President Obama took office, has: called the stimulus “bling bling,” gave “slum love” to Bobby Jindal, declared his campaign to be “off the hook,” said he wants to reach out to “one-armed midgets,” again his words not mine, said “God will tell me if I should run for president,” and told his critics to “stuff it.” The sad thing is that he actually carries sway within government as both a prominent figure in Republican politics and a former lieutenant governor of Maryland.
You heard that right, folks, a guy who, in one of his first appearances on the national stage made an insightful and thought-provoking analysis of the stimulus by calling it: “bling bling.” I haven’t heard that level of maturity since the seventh grade. Honestly, sometimes I have to remind myself that I’m actually watching CSPAN, not Ringling Brothers.
Next up we have Rush Limbaugh, who prior to Obama’s inauguration openly rooted for the new president and administration to be as successful as the one before it. Rush, who has donned the mantle of party leader, advocates individual responsibility and “free markets,” aka corporations gone wild, as the solution to policy challenges from trade to health care to the economy. It is perhaps with the saddest sense of irony that a morbidly obese man with a microphone has the gall to preach self-discipline. Entertainer: heal thyself. But yes, Rush Limbaugh openly rooted for the president to “fail.”
As much as I didn’t care for Bush’s personal qualities (e.g. his cockiness, that smug little smile he wore during every press conference, his difficulties with uttering a coherent sentence, etc.), let alone his policies, I never said to myself, “Well, I hope the president casually dismisses a terrorist threat to our country and then invades the wrong nation.” Nor did I ever say, “I hope he watches an entire American city drown like it’s ‘The Perfect Storm’ airing on TNT.” George W. Bush — We Know Drama.
But seriously, if Limbaugh and Steele (along with Congressman Paul Broun who compared Obama to Hitler or Congresswoman Michele Bachmann who called for investigations into her colleagues to discover whether they’re “pro-American”) represent the caliber/maturity level of today’s Republicans, then this is a most troubling development. I mean, let’s not kid ourselves, politics is not like Baskin-Robbins — we don’t have 32 flavors to choose from.