Posted on 09/23/2009 9:55:57 AM PDT by Tiger_2009
Obama's Radicalism and the GOP Posted by Rocky Mountain Foundation on Tuesday, September 22, 2009 5:09:09 PM
Thank God John McCain lost in 2008. Obama's radical agenda will bring about the revitalization of the Republican party through grassroots citizen activism that would have been impossible under a McCain presidency.
By Tom Tancredo*
Eight months into the Obama presidency the Republican Party is suddenly thriving by virtue of the patriotic reawakening generated by Obama’s radicalism. But the Republican revival may be short lived if it does not listen to the voice of the new citizen activists.
Obama was elected on the strength of Bush exhaustion syndrome and Obama’s plausible promise of “hope and change.” But now that Obama has unveiled his truly radical agenda, middle class Americans are understandably alarmed.
Obama’s radical program has provoked a grassroots rebellion of historic proportions. While the Republican Party may be one beneficiary of this rebellion, the rebellion itself has nothing to do with party allegiance or party organization. Indeed, some Republican elites feel as threatened by this new activism as Obama Democrats.
What is astounding and unprecedented in recent American politics is that this authentic citizen protest arose entirely outside of political party structures. Republican officials had virtually nothing to do with organizing the Tea Party protests that began in April or the town hall protests in August or the historic gathering of over one million people on the Capitol Mall on September 12.
Millions of Americans are seeing the radical, Marxist character of the Obama agenda for the first time. The attempted government takeover of health care, a crippling new energy tax, his affirmative action Supreme Court appointment, the World Apology Tour, the Justice Department attack on the CIA interrogation of terrorists, and now the abandonment of NATO allies on missile defense — none of this was foretold in the platitudes of the 2008 election campaign. Obama’s agenda is the fulfillment of the dreams and fantasies of the left wing of the Democrat Party, but our political and media elites were all taken by surprise. Obama is not the “pragmatic centrist” voters thought they were getting.
The unprecedented citizen activism that brought 1.5 million ordinary American to the Capitol Mall a week after the Labor Day holiday is in part a predictable reaction to Obama’s radicalism, but it is also more than that. Something more profound is also at work. The fact that it has developed outside the established political structures is a story that has not yet been told because it does not fit the dominant “narrative” of American politics: genuine grassroots populism is supposed to always be from the left, not the right.
Obama’s radical agenda is forcing the Republican Party to confront a fundamental issue it tries hard to avoid. Is the Republican Party going to seek compromise with Obama’s radical agenda to prove they are committed to the same “compassionate” agenda, or will it provide leadership based on a different vision for America?
The sad truth is that this new activism, this rediscovery of constitutional limits on government and principled resistance to further expansion of entitlement spending, could never have emerged if John McCain had won the 2008 election. If John McCain had enshrined his anemic “hands across the aisle” pragmatism as the official language of the party of Lincoln and Reagan, the Republican Party would have continued its sorrowful drift.
What is most fascinating and encouraging and revolutionary about this mushrooming grassroots activism is that it is more than a reaction to Obama’s radical program. It is more than “just say no.” It also a rediscovery and reaffirmation of the conservative principles that were abandoned or belittled by Republican Party elites in the Bush era.
The grassroots activism of the Tea Party rallies and 912 protests is almost the exact opposite of a traditional political rally organized by a candidate for public office. The purpose of these rallies is to save our country, not elect some candidate. In fact, there is often a large element of “pox on both your houses” in these protests, and Republican candidates who think they can run on traditional themes in 2010 without addressing these new challenges will have a rude awakening.
Yes, we all know that compromise is a necessary part of governance. But what the new citizen activists are demanding is that compromise be based on a constitutional, limited government, low-tax agenda. A little arsenic will kill you a little slower than a larger dose, but please don’t serve it with a chocolate mousse and call it dessert.
What course the Republican Party will take at this crossroads is an open question. Old habits die hard. Just as George Bush was tone deaf on illegal immigration, many in the Republican Party leadership are loath to acknowledge that the mainstream media is in the pocket of the Democrat Party and new modes of communication and organization are needed. The hardest words for a Republican moderate to utter are, “Rush Limbaugh was right.”
But what is clear is that there is no going back to “hands across the aisle bipartisanship” that gave us McCain-Feingold and is too often a substitute for principled leadership. We do not need more snake oil of the “no entitlement left behind” variety. The day of reckoning for reckless government spending is at hand.
The “Help (Desperately) Wanted” sign is hanging in the window. Only leaders who can speak the language of liberty and limited government need apply.
The GOP is it’s own worst problem. They don’t embrace conservatism to the extent they should and need to.
I have to agree. If the McCainiac were elected, would there have been this much vocal opposition to him when he pushed his socialist/globalist agenda?
I have been saying this and the opener is exact. Thank God McCain lost.
To explain in my own words...I have little confidence that McCain would have been very effective with the house and senate majorities. His was not a conservative drive to begin with. Conservatives would have been driven further off the reservation.
On the otherhand, we would likely not have spent our way into oblivian THIS SOON. He would do more to make me proud on an international front. Obama, after this term is up, may be the usefull motivator that the 2nd worst president in American history was to conservatism.
We have to thank Jimmy Carter for Ronald Reagn. Lord I hope we have somebody to step in and Re-Reaganize this country in 2012. It may have been about time we got a wake up call from the slow bleed into socialism. I just hope we, the American people, can keep Obama at bay for his entire term. The American public tires easily and gets complacent. The worst thing that could happen for the future of this nation is that the economy take off and go gangbusters.
I am truly torn.
To think I actually supported Tancredo at one time. Another political lunatic who thinks McCain-Palin would have been worse for America than Obama-Biden.
Lets not forget this dope pulled another boner when he backed the liberal Mitt Romney for potus.
ALL incumbent has to go, get the rest on next vote cycle
Hence Palin using Facebook . . .
...and McCain is the real conservative my party nominated.
Tancredo ultimately figure out how liberal CO is and did not run again.
I strongly agree! RINOs are just as damaging politically as any other non-conservative group is, and, unless the entire GOP actually puts an end to all RINOisms for always and then fully embraces conservatism for always, the GOP will continue to be full of problems politically until the GOP eventually dies as a political party. There’s also a need for political think tanks whose sole purpose should be to end all RINOisms asap!
Mccain was pitiful. So much so he lost to a marxist. He did not have the guts to call that spade a spade. Palin was the only thing keeping it from being an epic landslide.
...and McCain is the real conservative my party nominated.
I think you forgot the question mark ....?....at the end of your comment.
McCain is no conservative. With Palin he was acceptable and a viable alternative to Obama-Biden.
Romney is also no conservative. An unprincipled, two-faced scumbag.
The real crime is the way the Republican Party selects it’s
candidates. We should have never been offered McCann in the first place.
Tancredo quit and proved he was no fighter.
Yes.
You're preaching to the choir. I'd still rather have Palin in the co-pilot seat, then Zero and Plugs pushing socialism down our throats.
Well, we have a much better chance of defeating amnesty, global warming legislation, tax hikes, and bailouts if Obama is pushing them and not Mccain.
Granted, it would be better, but the conservative revolution that is underway would have been stifled with McCain.
That all being said, Tanc was one of the many idiots in the GOP to vote for the first $800 billion crap sandwich.
Yes, it may true that even a majority of people are against reckless government spending. However, this does not translate into revision to a constitutional based government with dramatic or even minor cuts in the size and scope of government IMHO. Unfortunately both parties are too dependent/addicted to the power/money that big government provides. The middle class likes the benefits it receives and anyone who proposes even minor entitlement cuts is labeled a racist and hate monger by the duplicitous media and the Democratic Party.
Sorry, the only thing that fixes this problem of an out-of-control government is bankruptcy or armed revolt. Neither is an especially attractive option. It remains to be seen if we have the fortitude like our forefathers of the Revolutionary War, the Civil War or WWII to do what is necessary.
We are stuck in a Euro-socialist statism that means you and your kids will not know the prosperity and freedom we have enjoyed up till now. Hope I am wrong.
schu
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