I remember initially hearing about this sort of coalition-building after John Gard first lost a Congressional race to Steve Kagan in 2006.
Some GOP activists had simply counted on the GOP and the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and other large groups to raise enough money to buy ads and fuel campaigns, but now they feel out-organized at the grassroots.
Which is correct.
The problem is, or the reality is, that at the grassroots, people are not buying what the Right is selling on basic quality-of-life and fairness issues - - health care reform, environmental or conservation protections, and re-regulation of financial institutions.
People are sick of predatory practices and partnerships between big government and big business, exemplified by the Bush administration's entire two-term disaster.
Furthermore, getting people stirred up over immigration or gay marriage or abortion rights - - GOP, right-wing playbook material - - may make a shrinking GOP base feel good, but it's going to take more than tired ploys to win elections.
"People are sick of predatory practices and partnerships between big government and big business, exemplified by the Bush administration's entire two-term disaster."
ReplyDeleteUh, James, what do you call the Obama administration's relationship with GM, Chrysler, and the banks via TARP?
Pot, meet kettle.
To The General:
ReplyDeleteTARP was created by Congress and the Bush administration prior to Obama's presidency.
As i read it, TARP has had some successes, and is a long-term effort to get bad assets off the books of banks that were allowed to behave with rogue-like greed duing the Bush presidency, when regulations was disregarded.
Obama's relationship w/ GM and Chryser is an effort to save what can be saved, through loans and standards for performance.
I expect we'll see a smaller GM and merged Chrysler: a down-sized US auto industry, but perhaps with new companies or subsidiaries or brands.
The Bush era was all about CEO power and self-enrichment, whether on Wall Street or in industries like oil, from which Bush and Cheney came.
There is simply no comparison w/ Obama.