I just read the latest post by Juan Williams at The Hill, and I have to say that was amazed by his sour grapes view of the world. The headline on the piece sums up Williams' position nicely: "Even a Senate victory won't heal GOP divisions". According to the reliably liberal Williams, despite the likely victory by the Republicans to take control of the senate, the GOP will still be split into factions that will make any further success for the party unlikely.
It may seem odd, but the Williams piece reminded me of the football fans at Harvard. Many years ago, I went to a few Harvard home games. The Harvard teams were generally inept in those days, and I never saw them win. At the end of each of the games I saw, the students in the Harvard stands began a chant that went like this: "You may have won the game, but you still go to _________" with the name of the victorious university in the blank. It was a smug note from a group that seemed unable to field a winning team. So too, is the article by Williams.
Think about it. Just six years ago, president Obama won the race against John McCain and carried with him huge majorities in both the House and the Senate. The Democrats and Obama had the power to do whatever they wanted and no opposition could prevent that. We saw endless articles in the media about the damaged Republican "brand", about the inevitable demise of the Republican party due to demographic shifts, and about the endless era of Democrat control in Washington. Since then, we have seen the Republicans win and hold the House, narrowly miss defeating the sitting president, and now, most likely, retaking control of the Senate. So much for inevitable Democrat victory.
Juan Williams represents the strain of Democrats who just cannot accept that they are losing in election after election. So, rather than discuss the problems of the Democrats that have led to this defeat, Williams wants to talk about the problems that Republicans will face once they take control of both houses of Congress. Are their factions in the GOP? Sure there are. No one would deny that. But are there factions in the Democrat party? Certainly there are. Just look at the involvement with ISIS and the reaction to it. Some Democrats are horrified that the USA is again involving its military in a new Middle East battle. Some want to make sure that no matter what happens, America will not have boots on the ground. Some want us to "negotiate" with ISIS. Some want to go all out to destroy ISIS. But does Williams talk about these factions? Of course he does not.
In many respects, it is a good thing for Republicans to have the Democrats talking about schisms and problems in the GOP. The longer the Democrats focus on those Republican issues, the later the Democrats will pay attention to their own divisions. We may find in 2016 that the Democrat candidate will have major splits in his or her own party and it may be too late to deal with them then.
By the way, I do apologize for mentioning negotiations with ISIS, but there really is a group of Democrats who want to do this. I can just picture those negotiations. John Kerry would sit there and tell the ISIS representatives that America cannot agree to the wholesale slaughter of Christians, Shiites and other minorities in Syria. Then, in typical Kerry fashion, he would offer to let ISIS murder some smaller number.
It may seem odd, but the Williams piece reminded me of the football fans at Harvard. Many years ago, I went to a few Harvard home games. The Harvard teams were generally inept in those days, and I never saw them win. At the end of each of the games I saw, the students in the Harvard stands began a chant that went like this: "You may have won the game, but you still go to _________" with the name of the victorious university in the blank. It was a smug note from a group that seemed unable to field a winning team. So too, is the article by Williams.
Think about it. Just six years ago, president Obama won the race against John McCain and carried with him huge majorities in both the House and the Senate. The Democrats and Obama had the power to do whatever they wanted and no opposition could prevent that. We saw endless articles in the media about the damaged Republican "brand", about the inevitable demise of the Republican party due to demographic shifts, and about the endless era of Democrat control in Washington. Since then, we have seen the Republicans win and hold the House, narrowly miss defeating the sitting president, and now, most likely, retaking control of the Senate. So much for inevitable Democrat victory.
Juan Williams represents the strain of Democrats who just cannot accept that they are losing in election after election. So, rather than discuss the problems of the Democrats that have led to this defeat, Williams wants to talk about the problems that Republicans will face once they take control of both houses of Congress. Are their factions in the GOP? Sure there are. No one would deny that. But are there factions in the Democrat party? Certainly there are. Just look at the involvement with ISIS and the reaction to it. Some Democrats are horrified that the USA is again involving its military in a new Middle East battle. Some want to make sure that no matter what happens, America will not have boots on the ground. Some want us to "negotiate" with ISIS. Some want to go all out to destroy ISIS. But does Williams talk about these factions? Of course he does not.
In many respects, it is a good thing for Republicans to have the Democrats talking about schisms and problems in the GOP. The longer the Democrats focus on those Republican issues, the later the Democrats will pay attention to their own divisions. We may find in 2016 that the Democrat candidate will have major splits in his or her own party and it may be too late to deal with them then.
By the way, I do apologize for mentioning negotiations with ISIS, but there really is a group of Democrats who want to do this. I can just picture those negotiations. John Kerry would sit there and tell the ISIS representatives that America cannot agree to the wholesale slaughter of Christians, Shiites and other minorities in Syria. Then, in typical Kerry fashion, he would offer to let ISIS murder some smaller number.
No comments:
Post a Comment