Whither The Republicans?

A recent Gallup poll has the nation's party breakdown as 40% self-proclaimed Democrats, 35% independent, and 25% Republicans. I remember the time in the 1990s that the Republicans actually had a plurality, the only time in my life. Now if you have fallen 15% behind the other party, don't you think you should become introspective?

It takes a Canadian David Frum to take on Rush Limbaugh and the whole idea that Limbaugh should represent the party. Naturally for Fox News and other conservatives, this was really a controversy generated by Barack Obama, who has an enemies list that is as extensive as say... Richard Nixon. While this flap has had its entertaining moments,it has become quite clear that party officials have kowtowed to Limbaugh.

One has to admit that Obama gave Republicans an opening by letting the interim budget go on without modification. This is either very clever politics or a mistake. The Obama Administration is gunning for their own budget fight, which will handle a host of issues such as health reform, where all political capital is needed.

But the interim budget until the end of September,one written under the previous Administration, has allowed the Republicans another moment to make their stand. What is their proposal--a freeze on government spending? Even Doug Brooks who momentarily went wobbly over Obama's budget, says even this is insane. The last time a Republican proposed a freeze on government funding during the beginning of a Depression was Herbert Hoover and that didn't work out.

In the endless parade of Republicans on the Sunday talk shows, all of them said,"As American families are tightening their budgets, we in government must do the same." Well, Americans are not only tightening their budgets, they are losing their houses, jobs, pensions and savings--which seem to require something more from Government. There is a massive disconnect between Republicans now and reality as we know it.

Republicans are choosing some very strange fights. First is the McCain obsession on earmarks. The irony is that his Arizona counterpart Jon Kyle must be acting in tandem with McCain. McCain denounces earmarks but makes sure Kyl gets the ones for Arizona. No Republicans I have ever known has ever cared about earmarks except for McCain. Even Lindsey Graham said on televsion that he voted having all earmarks removed from the budget bill but would work to get his re-inserted.

This charade is meant to point out that Obama campaigned to get earmarks out of the budget and he didn't fulfill his promise. Although Obama deserves credit for no earmarks in the stimulus bill and probably few in his own budget.

The other idea we get is that Obama is aiming to raise taxes--only on 2% of Americans in 2011. But this mantra is repeated ad nauseaum by Republicans and their surrogates on television. The next is that this is Obama's recession and really only hit since his election. All of this is aimed to bring Obama's approval ratings more down to earth, although we do not see a rise in Republican approval ratings.

55% of Americans blame Bush and the Republicans for our current economic situation and almost statistical fluke blames Obama. Republican congressional approval ratings are below that of Dick Cheney, which would make one really pause if you are the minority.

Do Republicans want Obama to fail? Yes, they do because with the passage of his 2010 budget, he will have effectively ended the assumptions about governance that existed since Reagan's time. The Republicans instinctively know this. That's why all this talk about Obama being a socialist--that is, he believes government can play a positive force for the public good, something Republicans no longer believe.

The other issue is that the Republicans have reflexively gone back to their FDR time instincts about defending the rich at all costs. Heavy duty financiers are bank-rolling the war against health care reform and encouraging the tax revolt tea parties ,which are actually against tax cuts. These financiers are the high-rollers for funding the Republican party.

Ironically, in the 1990s, the Republican Party became the party of small donors with millions giving a $100 or less. Now it is almost exclusively for the special interests with intense interests in lobbying to block key economic reforms. This leads to Republicans tolerating such things as birthers,neo-secessionists, Christianists, and the recent reemergence of John Birchers in their base.

It is like the odd tightrope the Republicans walked during the heydays of McCarthyism--toleration of the most extreme right-wing elements and cultivation of the wealthiest. Ironically, they have deliberately excluded real small businesses and the middle class from any attempt to extend their reach.

The question I think is worth asking is whether Republicans agreed with the Bush policy under the global economy of making the US simply the gendarme of the world, while devolving into a third world country with extremes of wealth and a further deterioration of living standards? That was the logical extension of these policies as even the elder Bush must have known. Is this what Republicans really wanted to do? If not, then before they get sober again, they have to confront that reality.