Everyone must have at least one post about President Bush
You know, for a situation that had only two outcomes, I find myself completely unprepared for one of them, the one that is the result. Truly. When Senator Kerry conceded, I was at work in the office, and I was stunned and completely unproductive the whole day.
That’s not to say I am about to launch into a vitriolic rant that would otherwise refer to “hicks”, “bible-thumpers”, “idiots’, or “god damn middle America”. I won’t. I’m trying for a smart post.
So what the hell happened? First off, let’s acknowledge how dangerous and brilliant Karl Rove is. He has successfully guided the Republican Party to victory after victory for the past five years after completely understanding the American political game and creating a corresponding strategy.
I am amazed, really, at what the Republican Party was able to do. They have entirely defined the issues and framed the discussion to their exact liking. There are real isuses out there that the Democracts were pushing but got zero buy-in.
How the hell is firearm control such an active topic of debate? How is gay marriage? How is abortion? The US has so many issues coming at it, that the fact that these marginal topics are on the table blows my mind. Consider the future of the American job economy, the war in Iraq, the loss of civil liberties, global warming, the insolvency of Social Security and healthcare. If these issues are not addressed in the coming years, America is fucked.
To me, the Republican Party figured out how to “win”, and did just that. They “won”, they won the election. In my opinion, the Republican Party won at the cost of cheapening the public discourse. The public discourse is flooded with these aforementioned two-bit shit issues and I don’t feel like Americans spend enough time worrying about issues that will really impact them.
As a small sidebar, this election shows that you can push a progressive idea too early. America is nowhere near close to accepting gay marriage, civil unions, or anything even approaching. Liberals forced the issue of gay marriage in several states (by letting home gays to get married) and caused a huge knee jerk reaction in many parts of the country. There were ballot referendums/propositions in over 10 states this election, a majority of which were soundly defeated. These very propositions brought out huge numbers of votes for President Bush. Liberals delivered a softball pitch to Karl Rove and he hit the issue out of the park, angling his candidate in the perfect position. He is Barry Bonds.
[Update to sidebar: It’s nice when the Times echoes your thoughts:
Some Democrats Blame One of Their Own and some opposition thought in:
Maybe Same-Sex Marriage Didn’t Make the Difference.
Sigh. I sure hope this all makes as much sense in paper than it does in my head.