"A Few Lessons for Republicans"

From: Letters to the Editor, Jacksonville Times-Union, November 9, 2008

R. Lumb of Jacksonville points out in a Letter to the Editor several very salient points delineating why so many of We the People are concerned about the election of Mr. Obama to the extremely high and important office of “P.O.T.U.S.”

This letter should help many who were supposedly “undecided” at the time of the election to see the areas about which they should have been thinking and about which they should have been looking for specific answers -- before voting.

Honestly, I do not think many people who voted for Mr. Obama, whether white or black, really took specifics into consideration. They either voted from a sense of “pride” (because Mr. Obama is black), or from a sense of liberal satisfaction (to see the fruition of their “cause”), or even from that understandable sense of “throw the bastards out!” that occurs very so often from dissatisfaction with the current government, whatever it may be at any given point.

It is not up to me to say whether any of the above possible reasons are invalid; I will merely say that I strongly disagree with each and every one of them in this specific instance.

Regardless, R. Lumb’s letter, titled A Few Lessons for Republicans certainly deserves consideration, especially in the post-election light of “rebuilding and revamping” the Republican Party.

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R Lumb writes:

“As Republicans prepare themselves to endure the next four years, here are a few things they should consider as they struggle to maintain the proper perspective:

· This election may not have been a referendum on President Bush, but for a large number of voters it was the next best thing. As the economy slumped and markets melted. The disdain for an unpopular president turned into loathing. Rightly or wrongly, the desire to punish Bush played a major role in John McCain’s defeat.

· The major media not only went in the tank for Barack Obama, they went in at the deep end. Transgressions that might have been fatal to a Republican, like Obama’s reneging on his promise to accept public financing for his campaign, were simply ignored by the mainstream press. The media’s mission was to make straight Obama’s path to victory and they did just that.

· Obama outspent McCain by a huge margin. How else does the most inexperienced candidate in modern history convince voters he’s qualified to be president?

· Republican losses in the Senate and House could have been much worse. The Democrats didn’t get their super majority in the Senate and appear [at the time of this letter] to have gained fewer than 18 seats in the House. It was bad, but it wasn’t the blood-bath some predicted. One very good piece of news: It appears that Al Franken has been denied the opportunity to bring his act into the United States Senate. [As of this posting date (11/14/08) the determination of a winner has yet to be made as we all await the results of what we just know will be a fair and clean and open recount. As soon, of course, as the Franken campaign locates the last box of ballots in yet another volunteer’s car.]

· Obama is a talented politician who ran a disciplined campaign. Let’s see if Obama has the same aptitude for governing.

· McCain is not an especially gifted politician. His reputation as a maverick may be engaging, but it isn’t sufficient to win an election by itself.

· As Fox News pundit Bob Beckel observed, Obama created his own margin of victory. The large number of newly registered black voters coupled with newly registered younger voters who actually materialized on Election Day, thanks to a good ground game, put Obama over the top. Republicans can replicate this strategy in the next election by pursuing their own affinity groups.

My message to fellow Republicans is this: As bad as it was, it could have been worse. McCain may not have attracted as many moderates and independents as promised, but he held his own and fended off what could have been an even worse defeat.

In doing so he did a great deal to endear himself to conservatives. So, let’s put the ritual bloodletting on hold. Let us instead return to our core principles and our role as the party of ideas.”

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I would add the following thoughts to the above.

If we are to consider Mr. Obama to be a “talented politician,” let’s not forget where Mr. Obama was tutored in politics and the source of his base support: the Chicago political machine. This is also the arena where the phrase vote early, vote often was coined to specifically describe the politics of that area. It is necessary to at least look at the success of this campaign with a bit of a large grain of salt when one remembers the scandalous issues that the mainstream media did their best to play down at least, and to completely ignore, at most.

The concerns about ACORN’s (one of Mr. Obama’s most vocal and significant supporters) involvement in Mr. Obama’s vaunted “get out the vote” efforts leave a sour remnant to digest.

The under-reported stories about voter registration fraud which very well may have translated into real voter fraud were basically left hanging and not followed up. We can only hope that the allegations and concerns never translated into anything more nefarious, though we will doubtless never know.

Personally, I feel the fact that Senator McCain was not a “politician” stood him in good stead if we were all really interested in “change.” A non-politico such as Senator McCain has been dubbed would have been a breath of fresh air in the hallowed halls of the White House. Combine that high qualification with the character of the man: honest, sincere, desiring to serve his nation and nothing more, for the love of that nation alone, I think Senator McCain would have been the perfect embodiment of “change.” Unfortunately, due to the many issues well described above and many more best left unmentioned, we have what we have at this time.

It is definitely incumbent on those of us who consider ourselves conservative Republicans to now ensure that our country will be taken on the road of “change” that is best for all her people, and not just a chosen few.




Copyright MCzwz, November 14, 2008. All rights reserved.