David Ignatius writes a piece today in which he laments that the Republican Party is being taken over by extremists. It is an unintentionally hilarious article. According to Ignatius, the victory of Christine O'Donnell over Mike Castle in Delaware shows that the far right is dominant over problem solvers in the GOP. Ignatius further contends that Republicans, unlike Democrats, are slaves to the extreme base of the party, and he predicts doom for them. In his words, "Will moderate voters take a chance on the preposterous proposition that this Republican Party will turn around and work in a calm, bipartisan way with President Obama? Or will they use their ballots to wake up the Republicans and tell them that they need more Mike Castles, and fewer extremists?"
What Ignatius does is the usual for a liberal columnist. First, he calls for the need for bipartisanship, but he defines bipartisanship as Republicans agreeing to the Democrat's proposals. that is also President obama's definition. Republicans can only be bipartisan under this rubric if they first give up all of their principles and accept high spending, big government control of nearly every aspect of American life.
The truth is that the country does not want that kind of accomodation with the obama program. Indeed, if all that was wanted was for people to agree with the Obama method, then they would just vote for the Democrat incumbents. No, the country wants a return to older American values of small, limited government that respects the Constitution and actually tries to live within its means. The country wants an America where each individual is given the chance to succeed on the basis of his own hard work, not the decision of some Washington bureaucrat. The country wants an America that stands proud among the nations of the world, not one that feels the need to apologize for its strength and success. We want a country that helps its friends, not one the throws them under the bus. We want a country run by people who tell the truth and listen to the will of the people, not one run by people who speak only in talking points whether true or not and who run the country as if by divine right. In short, the country right now has rejected the agenda and the style of Obama and his Obamacrat cronies. Their days in power are numbered.
Ignatius cannot fathom this. He still believes that a call to bipartisanship will bring the folks back to their senses. Unfortunately for him, he will have about as much success as a minister who preaches for the need of accomodation between the forces of Satan and those of the Lord.
For nearly two years, Democrats have thwarted every effort towards bipartisanship. They froze out the Republicans from even seeing the stimulus bill before the vote. They would not listen to Republican ideas for healthcare during a year long debate. Only when Scott Brown won did obama sit down with the Republicans, and then all he did was to lecture them in a transparent piec of political theater. Each idea that came from the Republicans was ignored and then the Democrats and their shills in the media (like Ignatius) protested that Republicans had no ideas.
Even worse than the Democrats treatment of the REpublicans has been their treatment of the American people. When ordinary folks showed up to town halls in the Summer of 2009 to question the wisdom of Obamacare, they were derided as "evil mongers", "Nazi's", "astro turf" and "racists". No one, we were told could oppose Obama's plans and not be a racist. No one could be in favor of smaller government and lower taxes without being a bigot. No one could stand for enforcement of existing immigration law without being a crypto fascist and a xenophobe. No one could think that it is a bad idea to build a mosque in honor of Allah at the site where 3000 Americans were slaughtered in his name without having succumbed to Islamophobia. The list goes on, but the point is this: in every major political debate of the last two years, the principal argument advanced by the Democrats and their allies in the media has been that their opponents were racist, bigoted, fascist, idiotic, rightwing fanatics. That argument may have worked years ago when the main stream media could control the message. Now, when the truth gets out for all the world to see, it will no longer fly. Instead, the Democrats are exposed as race-baiting name callers whose ideas are so bereft of logic that they have to argue by changing the subject. Even today, they are not out there explaining Obamacare's merits. Instead we hear that the Republicans are extremists. they are not explaining why it makes sense to raise taxes in a recession; instead, the Republicans are just protecting the ultra rich.
Hopefully, after the November elections, President Obama will be prepared to work with the new congress in a true bipartisan manner. For David ignatius and his ilk, let me explain. That means that Obama needs to compromise and accept the proposals, at least in part, of the new Republican conservative majority in the House and, hopefully, the Senate. David, the American people expect no less. If Obama fails to bend in this way, he will be a one-term president right up there in the pantheon of failed presidencies with James Buchanan and Jimmy Carter.
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