Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Major damage to GOP after shutdown, but can Democrats find a clear way forward? ... by gimleteye

A Washington Post/ABC News poll shows extensive damage to the GOP, as we predicted while the shutdown echo chamber was roaring. "Perceptions of the way Republicans handled the budget negotiations grew steadily worse through the weeks of confrontation, rising from 63 percent disapproval on the eve of the 16-day shutdown, which began Oct. 1, to 77 percent disapproval by the time it ended. Nearly three in five Republicans disapprove of their party’s handling of the negotiations."

The Post report will not square with GOP trolls parked in the comment section of Eye On Miami and other progressive blogs. We noted the flipping of a solid GOP legislative seat to the Democratic side last week. Yesterday, a San Antonio judge announced his decision to leave the Republican Party: "In a YouTube video announcing his reelection bid, Judge Carlo Key said the GOP is "at war with itself." "Make no mistake: I have not left the Republican Party. It left me," Key said. "I cannot tolerate a political party that demeans Texans based on their sexual orientation, the color of their skin or their economic status."

That the GOP busted a gasket and that the party did it all by itself, helped by the Fox News echo chamber, does not necessarily mean that Democrats will profit. Yes, Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee for president and, no there is no GOP leader on the horizon to mount an effective challenge.

What about Congress? That question will be answered in the 2014 elections, a year from now.

Democrats' messages to Republican and independent voters need to become more than an a la carte menu for public policy choices that have exceeded their shelf lives. For example, while unions will continue to be a base for the party, the economic underpinning of unions will never return to its place before globalization uprooted industries across the nation. This seems clear, and yet the Democrats continue to be vulnerable to Republican attacks on union related issues.

Democrats need to change their thinking about the roots of economic insecurity, too. No, it is not all about federal deficit spending as the GOP and Tea Party corporatists would have voters believe. Say so. Democrats also have to make a convincing case for streamlining government through efficiency and performance metrics in the civil service that bureaucracies strongly resist. Where Republicans decided it was time to drown government in the bathtub, because the GOP despises government, Democrats have to demonstrate that government can do better.

Paradoxically, the problems hobbling the web-based rollout of health care reform point to the difficulties in transformation. President Obama understood that once health care reform was accomplished by law and tested in the Supreme Court, its success would first be judged through execution. But presidents and leaders are only as good as the people working for them. Neither Republican nor Democratic party leadership has shown the ability to harness the power of government to make life better for the pursuit of liberty and freedom. The reverse is dismally more often the case. (As recent news reports about the TSA's intrusion in privacy of air travelers amply demonstrates.)

But of the two parties, Democrats have the best opportunity to advance if they can manage to find their footing. Let's hope they do, because what voters have now is unacceptable.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have great hope that democrats will continue their journey to move us boldly in the 21st century. The roll-out of ACA was unfortunate, as people that Obama and Sebelius trusted, could not deliver. Developing cutting-edge IT for projects never attempted before requires the very best thinkers, problem-solvers, people with vast experience in developing new applications. It is a what you know field not a who you field. Neither Obama or Sebelius know anything about designing and developing systems, they have to find people who do and put them in charge. This brings up a very important point for people who need software development. If the person seeking a contract has never personally developed, built and orchestrated all components of a number of projects, run, run, run. If they are MBA management types, and can't solve nor understand simple IT problems, run, run, run. You can't manage something you know nothing about.

L said...

Obamacare will be the albatross around every Democrat's neck in November 2014. Not even the liberal media can stop it. Get ready for another Republican landslide. It's coming!

Anonymous said...

Are you still trying to spin that Republicans caused the shutdown? LOL!

It was Obama and Harry Reid who said:

“ALL OR NOTHING. Either you pass a ‘clean CR’ with 100% funding for everything and no Obamacare delay on the individual mandate or we will shut down the government. ALL OR NOTHING.”

Obama and Reid held the American people hostage until they got their way.

Anonymous said...

Obamacare will play like a funeral dirge in 2014.

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Anonymous said...

dont misread the polls. i cant stand the gop but i love ted cruz. i want establishment rino republicans out and replaced with tea party people like cruz, mike lee, and rand paul.

of course i hate democrats. but a democrat masquerading as a republican (eg, mitch mcconnell, john mccain, lindsey graham, mitt romney) is even worse.

just beacuse we are against establishment rino republicans does not mean we are for leftwing democrats

Anonymous said...

In listening at the Congressional hearing on the ACR rollout, they had the wrong people testifying. They should have had project managers testifying. These people know little and are far removed from the hands-on day -to-day development of the system.

Anonymous said...

Obama can't play around with pretenders now. He must get someone who we KNOW who can read code and that person alone should report directly to him. There are two groups we KNOW who can read code, figure out what is going on, and get the system up and running - MIT people and the military. We don't have time to fumble around with others only to painfully learn they know nothing, nor to waste face time with unknowledgeable intermediaries looking for money.