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3/16/2010
Can (should) the GOP take BOTH houses?
Gil Mars: Now these guys are soldiers, right? And what do soldiers need?
Irwin Wayfair: Hats?
Larry Benson: Cam…cam…camouflage?
Gil Mars: Ms. Kegel?
Ms. Kegel: Enemies, sir.
Gil Mars: Enemies. - Small Soldiers, 1998
Republicans seem poised to win, come November. A lot. The prevailing wisdom – repeated early and often at Saturday’s Defend the American Dream summit – holds that Republicans will win control of at least half of Congress this year. Maybe more.
That’s good news, but it isn’t everything. It won’t mean repeal of the "stimulus." It won’t mean government-by-conservatives. If congressional Democrats ram ObamaCare through this year, it’ll still be in place by this time 2012.
But at least they won’t be able to do any more damage.
Winning back Congress will give Republicans things they don’t have now. Power. Authority. Responsibility.
On the other hand, no it won’t. Tax cuts? Tort reform? Drilling for U.S. oil? Not impossible, but not up to us. No matter how well Republicans do in November, President Obama has the veto pen.
Still. Better than now.
Now. Realizing that this is a couple degrees too cute and radically hypothetical besides, here's my question: Are Republicans better off taking Congress over completely? Or only taking one house, and leaving Democrats in charge in the other?
One of the reasons Republicans are ascendant today – besides the Democrats’ radically socialist agenda and complete inattention to the national economy – is that Republicans have an enemy. Someone to push against. To get mad about. To rally troops over.
A Republican Congress will give that to President Obama. Enemies. Adversaries. Rivals. Oh, sure, Republicans are already that. But…Republicans can’t win. Not as things stand. All the trouble Democrats are having – and have had – trying to pass their agenda has been thanks to other Democrats.
Republicans might as well be an angry blogger, for all the good being in the minority does them. A plastic bag on the highway. The Detroit Lions. Democrats hold all the cards. All the power. They’re the invasive predatory species, eating the ecosphere away without fear of natural enemies.
Nobody loves an invasive species.
Having an enemy creates conflict. Conflict creates drama. Drama gets people interested. It requires action. Immediacy. Americans love to take sides – to argue – but unless there’s somebody worth taking sides against…
…well, why bother?
Republican majorities in Congress will make it worth the bother, just like Democrat majorities have.
That's the price of success: an energized opponent. Remember the aftermath of 1994. The “Is President Clinton Irrelevant?” era was short-lived, because…he wasn’t irrelevant. He was the President, with all the power that suggests, and a fawning media, besides.
President Obama will be no less relevant, no matter what happens in November. The media may be souring on him now. They’ll change their tune, once they get some Evil Republicans in power. So will the Democratic base.
So back to the question: will Republicans be better off holding both houses of Congress? Or only one?
I’m inclined to think the latter. Hey, we won’t be able to accomplish anything either way. Having half of Congress (the Senate, I hope), we'll be able to stymie the Democrats while still being the less powerful Party.
But, of course, it’s not up to me. Candidates won't roll over just because some guy in Wisconsin says so. Local parties won't, either. And like I said, it’s too cute. What's going to happen is going to happen. What's going to happen is going to be good. But we'd better be ready for what happens after that, too. Because it only gets harder from here.
Lance Burri blogs regularly via his site, The TrogloPundit.
COMMENTS
People are fools if they put their hopes in parties. I think Alex Jones' documentaries have pretty well wrapped up the case that the main parties are simply implements of large corporations.
This is borne out now, in the race against Obey. There are two Rep. candidates, one, a corporate-sponsored lawyer, (Duffy), and one an independent-minded farmer, Dan Mielke. Guess which one the GOP is pushing?
And guess which one actually HAS THE CONFIDENCE OF THE PEOPLE? Mielke leads Duffy 2-1 in polls, yet the out-of-touch GOP leadership is pushing Duffy. They're terrified of Mielke, as he cannot be bought.
emily matthews (Tue Mar 16 09:15:52 2010)
The cited poll was fabricated by Mielke, who's failed to win even one election in 30 tries. Duffy's raised nearly $400k in small individual contributions, not a singe one from "big business". Mielke's raised $2500, not enough to buy yard signs for a small town.
Anyone associated with the GOP is running from Mielke like the plague, and for good reasons. He's toxic.
Frank Frijolski (Tue Mar 16 16:16:41 2010)
Since the GOP has no positive agenda, I think you're right - it's better off having no power to do anything positive while being able to block anything the Democrats propose. The only problem with this is having a totally nihilistic opposition party that has retreated into its own alternative reality is terrible for the country. If you're a Republican these days, you're supposed to believe that:
- History started anew when Obama was inaugurated and nothing Bush or any other human being did or didn't do before then could possibly have any effect on us today.
- All economists are liberal elitists.
- All scientists are liberal elitists.
- 9/11 was a great success for President Bush. President Obama is a failure because of the unsuccessful Detroit crotch bomber.
- The recession was caused by Obama's bank bailouts (which in fact happened under Bush).
- Obama is responsible for all of the federal deficit and debt. (80% of the current deficit springs from the recession and Bush's unfunded tax cuts and wars.)
- Government-run healthcare is evil, but Medicare cannot be modified in any way under any circumstances.
The GOP needs to regain contact with reality before it should be trusted anywhere near the levers of power.
Marcus (Tue Mar 16 16:21:46 2010)
Marcus, nice MSNBC talking points. You forgot a few; mention liberal elitists like Bob Ruben and Al Gore, or tenured professors. An remember, the war was 'unjust'. If you want to go old-school, bring up the 2000 election and say 'disenfranchised' a lot.
Bush did us no favors economically. He spent like a drunken liberal, but O is compounding the problem, hence the few moderate Dems are scared as hell about November.
As to Mielke, it's smart of the GOP to turn a cold shoulder to him. He has a counterpart running for Governor as well. They've built thier candidacy on fighting the 'evil gay movement' rather the creating jobs, providing solutions to health care and social security or finishing this war on terror (no matter what you think of it).
IMO we need to keep Senators like Evan Bayh and flush entrenced politicians like Lindsey Graham, and I say this as a Republican.
Twin Bear Tom (Tue Mar 16 18:55:32 2010)
The question is really should they take the Senate, as even the Democrats don't seem to be holding out much hope of keeping the House. The Democrats and the media would label them as do nothing obstructionists, but after two years of team Obama I suspect that the people might welcome a couple years of nothing. The real advantage to holding the senate in my opinion is that it would force Obama to moderate the SCOTUS nominations that will very likely occur.
David Martin (Tue Mar 16 22:09:07 2010)
Marcus, I'm surrounded by Republicans and conservatives most of the time, and none of them - and I mean, literally, NONE of them - would agree with a single one of those points.
Except the first half of #7, that is. Hey, objective truth is objective truth.
Lance (Wed Mar 17 09:44:14 2010)
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