...is this: The Republicans now know what they need to do to field serious presidential and congressional candidates. They have seen first hand that marching in lock-step with their party's most extreme elements (the Tea Party) is a recipe for disaster. The majority of Americans are not extremists.
For too long Mitt Romney had to pander to the Tea Party, telling them what they wanted to hear in order to get his party's nomination, and then couldn't back-track fast enough to show he was a moderate. He made a good effort with the first presidential debate, but it was too little, too late, and his public 180 was probably considered too hypocritical.
And the disaster wasn't just at the top of the ticket, either. Many of the leading congressional Tea Party-backed candidates were defeated, too. If the larger Republican party is smart, and I think they are, they will begin to distance themselves from the extreme elements in their party and move back towards the middle. They don't have to be afraid to be moderates, to stand up to the Tea Party and say, "NO, you're wrong!"
Now would be a great time to do that. Both parties need to sit down and begin working together for the first time in a long time to constructively address many of the problems facing our country. Looks like the ball is now in the (Republican controlled) House of Representatives' court. Have they gotten the message or not? We'll soon find out.
S
I totally agree with your thought that both parties need to sit down and work together to start solving our country's problems. May today be a good day!
ReplyDeletebetty
Yeah a lot of the problem falls with the primary process. In the primaries you have to cater to these far right fringe elements and then you have to try to move to the center and it's just not a good way to get things done. While I'd like to think the Republicans might learn something, the Tea Party crowd seems too dumb to make that kind of adjustment. And unfortunately until January 20 we've still got the same intransigent lot in Congress and after that there wasn't enough of a shakeup to make anything happen.
ReplyDeleteBut now that Obama is here for another 4 years people need to turn to their Congressional reps and demand that a reasonable deal get done.
I'm hopeful that since this is Obama's second term the GOP will work harder for their constituents instead of just trying to bring Obama down.
ReplyDeleteYou're right. I hope this is a new beginning and the end of the Tea Party. America needs two parties working together. Compromise needs to be redefined as something other than a dirty word.
ReplyDeleteAmerica needs more than two parties. As long as there are only two with a chance of victory, they will both pander to the largest voting blocs and ignore the powerless who don't represent more power for those parties. Three parties (I'd prefer the Libertarians, but any will do) makes the other two actually have to answer questions rather than get by on platitudes and slogans. Just my two cents (probably worth about a cent-and-a-quarter with inflation.)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jim, there were other parties running who I feel should have been given a chance, but without the funds spent by the two major parties they were never heard from.
DeleteI read an analysis in a German newspaper of how Obama might want to work with the Republicans to actually get some stuff done and to compromise and reach out. They wondered if he might do that by staffing his cabinet with people who are able to work with "the other side."
ReplyDeleteThat same article also suggested that the Tea Party might move even more to the right, because "being moderate" obviously didn't work. This makes me wonder if the Republicans will eventually split into two.