[Bill,
January 28, 2008]
Peggy Noonan on the GOP
Here's Mme. Noonan:
Well, back in 98, the GOP chose Bush as the heir apparent, so eager were they to get back into power. Today's damaged Republican Party is the consequence of that decision, then. We nominated someone more because of their brand name rather than their qualifications, and were just competent enough to get him elected. Not only that, but we forgot how much Bush the Elder pissed us off, squandering the Reagan Revolution.
We could've had McCain for the past eight years, or Gore for four and McCain for four. But noo, we had to elect Dubya.
I don't entirely blame Dubya, though. It's far from this simple. Truth is, the GOP made two horrific strategic decisions that have gotten us to the place we are now:
1. Impeachment. Knocked Newt Gingrich out of the House Leadership, and wasted the country's time and energy and the party's capital trying to get rid of a lame duck president who was already going to leave. Not only that, but impeachment fanned the flames of the high and destructive partisanship you see today (and sometimes see practiced on this blog.)
2. Dubya and the GOP Congress abandoned what got them in power: The Reagan Revolution, and Contract with America revolution: the Congressional balanced budgets of the mid and late 90s.
Truth is, the GOP has never been as much the party of Reagan as it supposed.
We can't continually run on "but the other guys will be worse." It's true — the Democrats have a way of institutionalizing failure. But we can't blame the Dems for the current situation we're in.
Newt, in his book, Real Change, notes that the fundamental problem with both parties is that they don't appeal to broad American values and our native optimism, and instead look to eke out electoral victories by casting red meat to various constituencies and setting people against each other.
Remember, Reagan spoke about "Morning in America." I didn't believe it at the time, back in 1980 — but I wanted to. I knew, as so many of us did, that this is exactly the right message: The best is to come.
* Note: In fairness to our presidential candidates, many of them are trying. I'm more talking about the era from 1998 to 2006.
This is absurd. George W. Bush destroyed the Republican Party, by which I mean he sundered it, broke its constituent pieces apart and set them against each other. He did this on spending, the size of government, war, the ability to prosecute war, immigration and other issues.
Well, back in 98, the GOP chose Bush as the heir apparent, so eager were they to get back into power. Today's damaged Republican Party is the consequence of that decision, then. We nominated someone more because of their brand name rather than their qualifications, and were just competent enough to get him elected. Not only that, but we forgot how much Bush the Elder pissed us off, squandering the Reagan Revolution.
We could've had McCain for the past eight years, or Gore for four and McCain for four. But noo, we had to elect Dubya.
I don't entirely blame Dubya, though. It's far from this simple. Truth is, the GOP made two horrific strategic decisions that have gotten us to the place we are now:
1. Impeachment. Knocked Newt Gingrich out of the House Leadership, and wasted the country's time and energy and the party's capital trying to get rid of a lame duck president who was already going to leave. Not only that, but impeachment fanned the flames of the high and destructive partisanship you see today (and sometimes see practiced on this blog.)
2. Dubya and the GOP Congress abandoned what got them in power: The Reagan Revolution, and Contract with America revolution: the Congressional balanced budgets of the mid and late 90s.
Truth is, the GOP has never been as much the party of Reagan as it supposed.
We can't continually run on "but the other guys will be worse." It's true — the Democrats have a way of institutionalizing failure. But we can't blame the Dems for the current situation we're in.
Newt, in his book, Real Change, notes that the fundamental problem with both parties is that they don't appeal to broad American values and our native optimism, and instead look to eke out electoral victories by casting red meat to various constituencies and setting people against each other.
Remember, Reagan spoke about "Morning in America." I didn't believe it at the time, back in 1980 — but I wanted to. I knew, as so many of us did, that this is exactly the right message: The best is to come.
* Note: In fairness to our presidential candidates, many of them are trying. I'm more talking about the era from 1998 to 2006.
As Noonan writes, the Clintons are doing vast damage to the Democratic Party. If Hillary wins the primary it will be bad, if she wins the Presidency, then Bill in the White House make do more for the GOP than the GOP has done for itself for a long time. Bill is highly radioactive waste you would rather not have stored in your neighborhood.
The Contract with America was political genius. I'm not a huge fan of Reagan, but he was an optimist, a realist of sorts, and he did have a sense of humor about himself. Somehow the GOP went from there to the Clinton Impeachment. The impeachment was a sort of sanctimonious masturbation session. Then Rove doubling down on divisiveness (and after 9/11 doubled down on fear). Fear and division are not the politics of optimism. I don't think that strategy grows more voters, it just hardens the ones you've already got.
GWB was already in trouble before 9/11. 9/11 came to Bush's political rescue. I think GWB would have been gone 4 years ago if it had not been for 9/11. The GOP finally jumped the shark during the Schiavo fiasco. So, the GOP is due for some tough times.
I'm not sure that Noonan is right about the GOP just having to go back to where it started to go off base. That seems a bit too easy - I think it will take some new blood and a new brand. However, After 8 years of any President, the opposition party is kind of due. There is a natural fatigue. So, perhaps it will be easy for the GOP to reverse itself.
At least we're having an interesting election cycle this year.
I don't know that Bush, so much as the Republican Congress screwed the pooch.
They were still right to impeach. After all, Clinton did perjur himself. The fact that people didn't want to hear that, well, they're people, right?