GOP needs a new catalyst

Many have no doubt seen the fox video that details just how ignorant sarah palin was when she was selected to be the potential vice president. This is just the beggining of the internal war for control of the GOP. Sarah Palin is going to get obliterated in this fight. Many others are likely to be in the same boat. Palin, because she is an obvious target, and any remaining moderates because they will be outnumbered and encumbered with the failure of John McCain. With the moderates gone the dominante narrative for why they lost the election is going to be the economic crisis, sarah palin, and bush not being a true conservative.

Exhibit A,



Chafee is correct that the republican's failed in governance. They were good at winning elections but not governing. The problem is that he specifies the failure of Bush mostly in profligate spending. He blames Bush for not being a true conservative. So even Chafee has the wrong idea about what the conservatives need.

The conservative party at its core is a reactionary party. They run against things. Unfortunately after eight years in power they ran out of things that made sense to run against. To some extent this is where you can blame Bush because he undercut all of their arguments against the democrats with his abominable record. Bush alone though is not the answer. Look at the polling on the issue over at pollingreport.com and what you find is that a majority of americans side with the democrats on issue after issue.

The Republican party is stuck in a time freeze. They imagine that America is just as it was during 1980 when Reagan was elected. This is clearly not the case as the election of Obama proved. The white vote is becoming less powerful as time moves forward and the GOP has become the white party. They need to restart their outreach to minority communities, they need new rhetoric. Until we see people of color leading the Republican party i really doubt they manage to reestablish a national power base.

What the Republicans need most is new ideas. The ideas the currently run on have been neutralized in many ways. they no longer have welfare to run against, the terrorism smears failed against oabama. Abortion is not a winning issue with the voters they need to reach. Bashing guys is an issue that has just about reached its sell by date. Although several propositions were passed around the country attacking gay rights the age breakdowns suggest that they wont last very long. What is eventually going to spur a Republican resurgence is an Obama administration failure.

Obama is going to do something that does not work and as soon as that happens the GOP will latch onto that and ride it into the ground. As a party they do well in the opposition where they can be passionate and ideological without serious responsibility. They can tear down instead of building up. Until Obama puts a foot wrong though they wont have the location of their new attack strategy.

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Obama needs to lead on the economy

The financial markets are melting down. If you have no idea how the economy works then i assume this is a very scary time. If you do have an idea about how the economy and the financial sector works than this is a pretty scary time. As the financial market unwinds itself it is taking down big name banks with long histories. This scary economic time is a potential opportunity for team Obama to reclaim the initiative in the race and score some major points while helping the American people. Obama needs to get out front with a plan that addresses the situation in the markets and he needs that as on the air everywhere.

Kevin Drum gives a brief rundown of the situation-

Here in the U.S., we've now seen the collapse of Bear Stearns, IndyMac, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Lehman Brothers, as well as the more-or-less-collapse of Countrywide and Merrill Lynch. In addition, AIG and WaMu are teetering, and perhaps Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs too. Current conventional wisdom, speaking in that scarily even tone that airplane pilots assume when both their engines have flamed out, suggests that the U.S. financial system might melt down completely this week. Conversely, the cheery optimists think it might avoid it — for the next few days anyway. I'd guess the optimists are right, but it's not as if I'd be willing to put any money behind that bet.

When people are scared and nervous they look for a leader. Barack Obama could be that leader. The economy in general has been an issue for the campaign but so far it has focused on oil and energy, the price of gas. These are things that people deal with every day and they can be effective. However this is an opportunity for Obama to lead on an issue that most people dont understand. He can get out in front and explain to the American people why this is happening, what the effects are and what needs to be done.

This strategy has the benefit of showing that Barack Obama, as opposed to John McCain has the American peoples interests on his mind. It shows that he can deal with complex crisis. It makes him look like a leader and it would leave McCain in the dust. McCain cant even pretend to know how this stuff works. He cant make it seem like he knows, he looks listless and disinterested in economic matters.

We have serious problems and we need serious people to solve them. McCain is not that guy as his campaign has demonstrated. Obama has the chance here to lead, real solutions for real problems. Scared about the economy? Obama has a plan that deals with it. It will lure ayone who likes the McCain/Palin personality but still has that fear of the economy and it can never hurt to demonstrate competence. It is also an Issue where he might be able to lead now with a bill that does something. Getting some legislation through to help would be a big boost. Can you imagine Bush singing the Obama financial regulation act into law?

Obama can use this financial mess to achieve a great deal if he gets out in front.

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