Well, the biggest election in the history of elections is over. I’ve always been a bit of a political junkie but, towards the end there, even I was getting tired of it.
After the dust settles somewhat the next phase will begin for the Republican party: the search for where we went wrong. Did Mac get too centrist or too conservative? Did he abandon core principles? Was Palin the problem?
The answers that we end up with will determine the relevancy of the Republicans for the foreseeable future. History suggests that Republicans will regain some strength on the Hill in 2 years but beyond that, little is certain. I believe that an over reaction is certaily possible – the repubican muckity mucks could decide that we went wrong by minimizing the role of the social warrior. It’s also possible this won’t happen but it is a strong possibility. With a pro-choice President appointing judges who are pro-choice I believe the role of the social warrior, in combination with Sarah Palin, will be an irresistable target for the republican establishment.
For most people I expect that they feel like we have always been at war with that particular social Oceania and they are tired of it. Social issues are important to people but, at the national level, the principles that we have abandoned are not social, they are financial. In the final analysis, social issues are not what got Obama elected.
The Republicans are supposed to be for reasonable government and fiscal respobsibility. We haven’t just handed those tenets away, we’ve piled them in the street and set fire to them. The growth of government is incredible. We have an $11 trillion dollar debt, most of which was run up under Republican administrations, and are borrowing money from abroad as fast as they are willing to give it to us.
I believe that if we are to regain our former glory, we need to get back to governing in a fiscally responsible way. We need to get back to that core belief that the role of the Federal government is limited and states rights matter. The first step in reaffirming this belief is to get spending under control and start to pay off our debts.
November 6, 2008 at 8:07 am
Andy,
Please take some of that advice to heart and provide it to the fellow “Republicans” on the City Council.
I heard that CNN was telling the GOP that iw was just too far to the right and that is why McCain lost. Well, it seems to me that McCain based on his record and history was pretty much a liberal GOPer. CNN seems to think the center is the place to be for the right, but does not mind the Dems being lead by a socialist.
November 6, 2008 at 2:23 pm
With the loss of most (if not all) of the seats in the north-east and west coast, the republicans are not really a national party anymore
November 6, 2008 at 4:14 pm
I remember the political obits for the GOP after LBJ swamped
Goldwater in 1964 and the ones for the Dems after Nixon zinged
McGovern in 1972. In both cases, the other party, left for dead,
came back and won the White House four years later. Something
to remember – for both Democrats and Republicans.
November 6, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Steve: I agree but I would argue that Ford was fatally weakened by dealing with Nixon fallout. I don’t know that I agree that the Republican party is a regional party – we’ve only lost badly in 1 cycle. The republicans are not so out of the mainstream that the voters are willing to send us into the wilderness for an extended period.
November 6, 2008 at 6:11 pm
This was more a Bush backlash than I think the embrace of socialism and the far left. Buyer’s remorse will start soon enough.
People move out of liberal areas, they do not move into liberal areas.
Carter also gave us 12 years of rule and this time it may last twice as long. The GOP just needs to remember their roots, small but effective Government.
November 7, 2008 at 8:54 am
“they do not move into liberal areas”
Are you sure about that? I’m pretty sure FFX county’s population has doubled since 1980. The District is flat or slightly up.
November 8, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Rich Lowry notes in a WaPo op/ed (11-9-2008):
“… the ideological composition of the election was essentially
unchanged from 2004. Only 22 percent of voters identified
themselves as liberals. The rest were moderates or conservatives.
It is indeed, as conservatives have been insisting in recent
days, a center-right country. The question is how to appeal to the
center again.”
November 9, 2008 at 12:06 am
Andy,
Fairfax County used to be very conservative, and still is in some ways. Wait a few years and if the libs take over completly, they will start to even off.
November 9, 2008 at 12:08 am
Steve,
I think it came down to a hatred of Bush. There is going to be a lot of buyer’s remorse over the next couple of years.
November 9, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Bush made his bed and McCain laid in it. Citizen is right in that a large part of the victory was backlash.
November 9, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Scott,
Not only that but I believe exit polling showed the voter break down as 22% identified themselves as liberal, and the rest either indies or conservative. That to me sees the Country is still center-right and with the right candidate and solid policies the GOP can and will be back in power soon enough.
November 10, 2008 at 10:15 am
I’d agree that we are still a center-right country.
November 10, 2008 at 4:03 pm
What’s amazing to me are all the liberal web sites and blogs and news organizations and such proclaiming this as a “landslide”. McCain garnered more electoral college votes than Dole/Kemp 96 or Bush/Quayle 92. You want to see a “landslide”, look at Reagan/Bush 84 or 80, or Nixon/Agnew 72. Those were all Republican “landslides” from which the Democrats eventual recovered with Carter and Clinton. And from this defeat the Republicans WILL recover too. I personally see Obama has the liberal version of Ronald Reagan. Both achieved the presidency at a time of major economic uncertainty and succeeded a largely unpopular President by energizing their respective bases. Let us hope that he or she who can energize the Republican party can do so in just 4 years from now, not 8!
November 10, 2008 at 7:58 pm
What I really hope is that our new president, liberal or not, will dig us out of our current hole, and that we will help him and not throw rocks from the sidelines. When sworn in he will be our president, and the office he will occupy — and his position as commander in chief — deserves our unqualified loyalty.
At bottom I hope — and I assume you all do too — that he helps the country recover from its curent ills. Given our current economic challenges, I would assume that it’s your collective wish too.
I assume that wishing a particular (i.e. any) political party benefits from his presidency is a distant second. In other words: Country first, political party (a far) second.
Proud to be an American.
November 10, 2008 at 8:40 pm
We have to hope he does well. Otherwise, it will not be pretty in four years.
November 10, 2008 at 9:52 pm
I’ve been questioning what we can do as individual citizens (other than vote for candidates with their fiscal heads on straight)) to improve the economy.
If we believe in self-help and don’t believe the government should solve all of our problems, or at least that the government should be the problem solver of last resort rather than first resort, it follows that we each should proactively be asking ourselves, “what should I do? What part can I play?”
As individuals, should we be spending? Saving? Borrowing? Other? My gut tells me that we should not be borrowing, because borrowing would increase current liquidity problems in the capital markets. If we spend, we should only do so prudently, and we should buy American. Beyond that I’m not sure what each of us should do, but I’d enjoy hearing your opinions.
We quite often know the right path as individuals. This time around, I’m not so sure… Again, my question is what each of us should do, right now, to help improve the economy. My question is not what the government should do.
November 12, 2008 at 10:55 am
@American:
I guess the definition of “its curent ills” is what has people worried. Yes he will be OUR President, just as was Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter, BUT a LOT of what each attempted to do many did not like. Then again, George W. Bush (and his Congressional cohorts) has done a LOT to which many of us disagree also. And while I believe Ronald Reagan to have been the greatest President (so far) of MY time, he did some things (Simpson-Mazzoli Act granting amnesty for illegals as example) that weren’t so great either.
November 12, 2008 at 1:58 pm
It is worthwhile to remember that no President, including the ones
on Mt. Rushmore, completely escaped criticism before, during
and after their term(s) in office. Lincoln, for example, had to
sneak into Washington to escape angry mobs before his first
inauguration and was loathed for decades by many in the South.
November 12, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Well said Steve. We think OUR times are so vitriolic, what with almost instant access to anything anyone says available online, yet it is amazing to look back at newspaper articles and such from the 18th and 19th century and see just how downright NASTY politics were back then!
November 12, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Talk about nasty, let’s not forget that when Burr shot Hamilton, the former was the sitting vice president and the latter was the sitting treasury secretary.
November 12, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Steve Randolph Says:
November 12th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
It is worthwhile to remember that no President, including the ones
on Mt. Rushmore, completely escaped criticism before, during
and after their term(s) in office. Lincoln, for example, had to
sneak into Washington to escape angry mobs before his first
inauguration and was loathed for decades by many in the South.
Steve,
He is still loathed.
November 12, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Citizenofmanassas, You never seem to amaze me with some of the most wackiest comments and your last one has to be one of the stupidest ones ever. Now if I have misunderstood you comment I extremely apologize but I believe you think that Lincoln is still loathed by the South. Lincoln is probably used as a teaching subject for leadership skills than any other people in this country. I have more faith in the people of the South that the very large majority are long over the civil war. I apologize to you Councilman Harrover because I was taught when people say or write some of the most idiotic things you are suppossed to just ignore them, but this comment IMHO takes the cake.
November 12, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Sorry, the last comment was by FormerCoMEmployee
November 12, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Well, formerCOM, I was always taught one should not respect a person who breaks the law and abuses power. Is leadership locking up politicians who do not agree with you? Is leadership closing down newspapers who do not have the same opinion as you do? But since you feel the majority of people in the South do not hold that opinion, that is fine. But I did not say a majority, all, most, etc, I said he is still loathed. And that is a fact.
November 13, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Citzenofmanassas, what in the world are you talking about? Did you take your meds today? I would really appreciate anyone who can interpret (sp?) what Citizens last comment is talking about!?
November 14, 2008 at 4:42 pm
formercom,
You said Lincoln was used as a teaching tool for leadership. I asked if leadership was the closing of newspapers and the jailing of elected officials. Those are two of the Abe’s “leadership” qualities which I dislike and why he is loathed.