A couple pieces today caught my eye and they all, when taken together, show an in-depth detailed plan by Republicans after the 2008 presidential election, to work their way back toward taking control of Congress again and from the results of Tuesday's midterm election where the GOP took more than enough seats to wrest control of the House of Representatives from the Democrats, that plan is right on track.Starting with The New York Times three-page article titled "Democrats Outrun by a 2-Year G.O.P. Comeback Plan."
The PowerPoint slides presented to House Republicans in January 2009 seemed incongruously optimistic at a time when the very word “hope” belonged to the newly ascendant Democrats and their incoming president, Barack Obama.
“If the goal of the majority is to govern, what is the purpose of the minority?” one slide asked.
“The purpose of the minority,” came the answer, “is to become the majority.”
The presentation was the product of a strategy session held 11 days before Mr. Obama’s inauguration, when top Republican leaders in the House of Representatives began devising an early blueprint for what they would accomplish in Tuesday’s election: their comeback.
How they did it is the story of one of the most remarkable Congressional campaigns in more than a half-century, characterized by careful plotting by Republicans, miscalculations by Democrats and a new political dynamic with forces out of both parties’ control. The unpredictable Tea Party movement, the torrent of corporate money from outside interests and an electorate with deep discontent helped shift the balance of power in Washington.
Read the entire piece as it accurately details the events over the last two years.
Another thing Republicans had in their favor was the long held belief that Democrats, when handed a one party rule, controlling both the House and Senate and the White House, would overplay their hand, would spend like drunken sailors and would raise taxes as well as pass laws that inherently interfered into American's lives.
Over 40 percent of Americans self identify as conservative in nature while only 20 percent of them self identify as liberal, so by highlighting every instance where Washington raised the national deficit, every time they raised a tax or spoke about it, every time they proposed and/or pass legislation the majority of Americans opposed, Republicans allowed Democrats to continue hammering their own nails into their own coffins. All in the name of appeasing their liberal base and a liberal agenda.
While Democrats were busy digging their own holes, Republicans were free to campaign and make sure every opportunity for a takeover seat was covered and fought for, forcing Democrats to multitask and spread themselves thin by fighting to pass unpopular legislation and defend seats that they never believed would even be in play in January 2009.
Before Tuesday's election I said that Democrats had shot themselves repeatedly and then questioned why they were bleeding so profusely, and that is exactly what they did with very little help from Republicans, leaving Republicans free to work their own agenda in their plan for a comeback.
The 2 year plan worked, Republicans took control, fired Nancy Pelosi from the Speaker of the House position, weakened Harry Reid's rule of the Senate by giving him a majority that cannot overcome a filibuster and promised Americans to fight for legislation Americans wanted. This put a stop to the steamrolling of Obama's agenda through both houses of Congress for the next two years.
Republicans promised to listen to the people, folks that came out to vote for Republicans in waves because the majority believed and stated repeatedly that Congress was not listening to them and was ignoring their will when they were supposed to be representing them and were instead more interested in doing what was best for Congressional politicians.
That promise must be kept.
Voters overwhelmingly believe – by an 81% to 10% margin – that most members of Congress are more interested in helping their own careers than in helping people. That, too, is a sentiment that has changed little in recent months.
Republicans have another plan as well and that is two years from now, the next presidential election and how to remove Barack Obama as president.
If his speech the day after the elections is any indicator, Obama seems prepared to make that easier for Republicans by refusing to acknowledge the dissatisfaction in the way he and Democrats have handled the last two years.
Full Obama press conference at YouTube.
Obama insisted that the unpopular things he did were done in "emergency" situations and gave the false impression to Americans that he was creating a bigger government, but Obamacare aka health care belies that argument, that wasn't rushed, nor done as an emergency measure. That was passed with Obama and Democrats knowing full well, by every poll conducted at the time, that Americans as a majority, were opposed.
They did it anyway.
As Americans watched out debts rise, spending increased by the trillions and a trillion dollar health care bill pass on a straight Democratic party line vote, they got angrier and angrier and by refusing to acknowledge the large part he played in that, Obama himself is now playing right into the hands of Republicans and their next two year plan to replace him in the White House.
Consider this: In Obama's eyes, he is now campaigning already for his reelection bid for presidency in 2012.
He will be sucking up to his base, liberals but also trying to appease the much smaller base of far left progressive liberals.
Gallup found that 42 percent of Americans consider themselves conservative or very conservative, 35 consider themselves moderates and only 20 percent consider themselves liberal or very liberal.
By attempting to appease the 20 percent of his base over the next two years, Obama will alienate the 35 percent that consider themselves moderate and he won't get any of the 42 percent that consider themselves conservative.
No one can win a reelection bid with only 20 percent of Americans and Barack Obama needs to learn that lesson if he hopes to have a chance in 2012.
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