A reader, referencing my distant past as an *ahem* advisor to Republican strategists, asked me to comment on the strong gains for the GOP in last nights election. In a word, predictable. There is the long standing phenomenon of the opposition party making gains in the latter half of a presidents second administration, true. But I think its safe to say that the Republican Party neither fielded better candidates, nor did they run better campaigns than in recent years. The fact is, the GOP very well should have made significant headway against the leaderless, rudderless party that is the Democrats in 2014. Ill give you an insight from my sources in the District of Colombia. Bear in mind, this information comes from my inner circle of scurrilous sociopathic intellectuals, salsa percussionists, and lobbyist scum-suckers, not to mention some really dodgy people. Take everything I say with an enormous salt lick, and maybe never listen to me ever. Got it? OK, heres the word on the street: Obama has basically already abdicated the presidency. There appear to be zero major policy initiatives in the works. If I had to guess, Obama is young enough and disinterested enough in the grimy muck of politics that he is mostly interested in moving on and advancing to Bill Clintons life of global stardom and fat speaking fees. In his first term, I heard that POTUS apparently spent the absolute minimum amount of time building alliances on Capitol Hill, in his party much less the opposition. And he had a weak power base in DC to begin with - his butt was barely in his US Senate chair before his presidential campaign kicked off. So now without any desire to achieve anything in terms of policy, and without any form of power base in DC to do something even if he wanted - hes done. Moribund. Sorta pointless. The country feels that emotionally even if they dont know it intellectually. Dems have had little reason to campaign, and their GOTV is much weaker at this moment than the Republicans, even if they do not sport better candidates than back in 2012. Wait - thats not fair - they did rid of my neighbor Todd Akin, so thats a plus. If they can discourage their other candidates else from calling trigonometry a secret code to turn school kids gay, they might even keep their leads going! I predicted several weeks ago that this would be a solid victory for the GOP, and Im unsurprised by the outcome. But the lax, dull, vapid approach of the Obama Administration is something I find alarming. And mind you, I have no desire to unfairly malign Obamas team, and would absolutely welcome a counterpoint. Prove me wrong, by all means! But I doubt anyone will step forward with a list of policy initiatives that I have simply missed. This candidate ran on the ability to produce and execute a vision. Lord knows, this is a country in need of leadership. But the harsh truth is that the leadership we require - that the world requires - is not coming from the Oval Office. Not for Syria, not for Ukraine, and not for Ferguson. Into that power vacuum will rush Americas adversaries, scheming special interests, and general chaos. I know that Americas economic elite, fat on their biggest gains in wealth in a century, have fallen for the shallow temptation of Thomas Friedmans idiot vision of globalization - that we dont need the nation-state and can all just free-float toward success, man. That is a dangerous and lazy framework, and this free floating presidency plays into it. Moreover, it is unacceptable to have a presidency enter Lame Duck status so early. There are enemies of this nation in a variety of forms, and I guarantee you that they notice - and plan. In the meantime, no Democrat should harbor an illusions as to why fewer people are following their leaders. Its because they arent headed anywhere.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 20:28:32 +0000
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