Boehner: Same old song
posted at 9:25 am on November 7, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
John Boehner offers the (Republican) party line in an oddly flat column in today’s Washington Post. Instead of offering specifics about how Boehner plans to change the GOP to rebuild voter trust — or even acknowledging the need to do so — Boehner instead insisted that voters got hoodwinked into supporting Democrats by Barack Obama’s talk of moderation:
While Republicans are disappointed by Tuesday’s results, we respect the American people’s decision and pledge to work with President-elect Barack Obama when it is in the best interest of our nation. Some Democrats and pundits may want to read Tuesday’s results as a repudiation of conservatism — a sign that Republicans should give Democrats on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue a free ride. I don’t see it that way, and neither should Republicans across the country.
The next four years are critical to the future of our families, our economy and our country, and we have a responsibility to rebuild our party by fighting for the principles of freedom, opportunity, security and individual liberty — the principles upon which the GOP was founded. Recommitting ourselves to these principles means two things: vigorously fighting a far-left agenda that is out of step with the wishes of the vast majority of Americans and, more important, promoting superior Republican alternatives that prove that we offer a better vision for our country’s future.
America is still a center-right country. This election was neither a referendum in favor of the left’s approach to key issues nor a mandate for big government. Obama campaigned by masking liberal policies with moderate rhetoric to make his agenda more palatable to voters. Soon he will seek to advance these policies through a Congress that was purchased by liberal special interests such as unions, trial lawyers and radical environmentalists, and he’ll have a fight on his hands when he does so.
In record numbers, Americans voted on Tuesday for a skillful presidential nominee promising change, but “change” should not be confused with a license to raise taxes, drive up wasteful government spending, weaken our security, or give more power to Washington, Big Labor bosses and the trial bar. Americans did not vote for higher taxes to fund a redistribution of wealth; drastic cuts in funding for our troops; the end of secret ballots for workers participating in union elections; more costly obstacles to American energy production; or the imposition of government-run health care on employers and working families.
That’s an interesting argument, but it begs the question of what 63 Americans did vote for. All of these issues came up during the election. Republicans fought hard to make them relevant, and the Joe the Plumber certainly had everyone talking about redistributionism. In the end, people still voted for Barack Obama and Democrats in the House and Senate.
As it happens, I agree with Boehner, but the House Minority Leader misses the point. Democrats won yesterday because Republicans still haven’t rebuilt credibility with American voters after 2006. Boehner says that voters didn’t give Democrats a mandate for big government and more spending, but it’s not as though voters had much of a choice. Republicans gave them big government solutions and more spending, too, and at least the Democrats weren’t hypocrites about it.
Boehner says Republicans will continue to oppose big-government solutions and offer rational and superior alternatives on policy. That’s what we expect a loyal opposition to do, and of course Republicans around the nation want to see that. But Boehner and the GOP have to do better than that if they expect to compete in national elections. They have to convince voters that the days of K Street Projects are over, and that power won’t corrupt them like it did after the Contract with America. Voters have to know that Republicans won’t spend like drunken sailors if given the opportunity to lead.
Nothing in Boehner’s essay speaks to that at all. Instead, we hear the same, tired party line. Perhaps other voices should be speaking now.
Blowback
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The one thing I think we should encourage all Republican officeholders to do is to admit that they all pretty much suck putting forth competent argument and to vow that they will put on their staff someone who will scour the blogs for rhetoric that inspires and advances the conservative, libertarian and classical liberal positions on each subject and memorize it.
As for the RNC, NRSC, and NRCC, they need to fire the ones they have and get some new ones.
Dusty on November 7, 2008 at 11:30 AM
I’ll say it again:
Dear GOP
Start writing bills instead of writing mission statements.
Assembly instructions are more important then the pretty picture on the box.
Limerick on November 7, 2008 at 11:31 AM
Just like the Prodigal Son coming back to the house of his father and acknowledged “I screwed up, make me one of your servants” (and I will admit that I have been a little free with my interpretation of the New Testament for the purpose of this analogy), the Republicans will need to really demonstrate to the conservative base how they had strayed from Party principles and helped contribute to the lack of abundance we are now facing. They have been like the Prodigal Son with their power drunken practices and now they are paying the penalty and eating slop with the swine. I say it is time to return to the principles that made the party great so that we may trust them to be servants of the ideals that we stand for. Go back to the ideals from which this nation was founded: the opportunity for Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness is for everyone, not just the elites. Prove to us that you are your brother’s keepers, in that you will no longer damage our trust for the purpose of expediency and not feeling the need to take time to communicate to the base; if the president would have taken time to answer his critics and sell his agenda, especially during the last four years, we may not have been facing our recent losses.
DL13 on November 7, 2008 at 11:32 AM
A suggestion: no more Republican earmarks.
McCain did it, so can the rest of them.
Count to 10 on November 7, 2008 at 11:38 AM
George Bush has squandered what remained of the Reagan legacy (small government conservatism) for short term political advantage. The bloated budget that Bush and his Republican cadre (No Child Left Behind, Medicare Drugs etc.) have drained the party of any residual credibility they may have had.
Clearly, the people wanted change. They got it and it remains to be seen whether they realized what they bargained for. But we are also looking for change in the Republican party. When the bloodletting is finished perhaps the Conservatives will remain standing.
microfiction on November 7, 2008 at 11:43 AM
Ed, it’s not either or. It’s both. The GOP does have to rebuild voter trust ..AND.. voters were hoodwinked.
You are right that the Republican party has to rebuild trust by actually putting in candidates with conservative principles and acting only on them. But you are wrong in thinking that voters want a conservative president. Voters have been reeducated by the schools and media into believing that “America is the enemy” and that we are forcing liberty upon other nations.
If the democrats have done anything right it is in pushing their liberal agenda through the schools and media.
That’s where the battlefront really lies. Until conservatives recognize this the map is only going to get bluer or Europeanized.
Grassroots organizations are likely to be the only effective method against what the liberals already control.
shick on November 7, 2008 at 11:51 AM
Excellent synopsis of why the Republicans are losing everywhere at the National and State level. The problems we Republicans face clearly are the result of the Republican leadership failing to keep the faith with Reagan’s vision.
Let’s hope conservatives regain control over the GOP.
kanda on November 7, 2008 at 11:52 AM
I believe that in the MSM’s eyes, Obama can, and will, do no wrong. It’s up to us, as Conservatives to treat the next president as Bush was treated.
For all of you, who think we need to take the high road on this one, remember,the honest man did not win.
It is our duty as Americans to get this country back to her conservative roots.
Scorp3j on November 7, 2008 at 11:52 AM
Grassroots organizations are likely to be the only effective method against what the liberals already control.
shick on November 7, 2008 at 11:51 AM
I agree.
pukara61 on November 7, 2008 at 12:01 PM
Too bad Rep Boner couldn’t get the space on WaPo to post his Red State entry. At least that one detailed where exactly he wants to draw the “I oppose” lines.
Me personally? All Republicans in the House should afford the Democrats no cover for bad bills. Party-line, no-cover vote unless we get to bring our pens into the mix and strike out a few line items.
onefinejay on November 7, 2008 at 12:09 PM
Education is a real problem in our country. Our schools don’t teach logic anymore. We have also ceased to believe that there is ONE real God who is sovereign and He is the one who determines the truth. Instead, the majority eagerly grabs the forbidden fruit desiring to be as gods.
shick on November 7, 2008 at 12:11 PM
No Ed, to “beg the question” is to engage in circular reasoning. What you mean is that “it raises the question.”
/pet peeve #348
Akzed on November 7, 2008 at 12:22 PM
The column was boiler plate, written because the Post offered Boehner the space. As much as I dread President Obama, I am far more afraid of the new Congress, because senators such as Boehner and McCain may not have the brains/guts to stand against things such as taxing retirement accounts or the re-establishment of the “Fairness Doctrine.”
However, the bigger issue right now is simply to wait and see what the new Congress and the new President produce. Attacking them now before they have held so much as one vote, proposed a bill or signed/vetoed anything will lead mostly to the electorate developing a tin ear regarding the Democrats/Socialists.
Obama has proven he is a lot smarter than the average Democrat (and many elected Republicans). It will be better to wait and beat his reputation up when he is forced to back the disasterous legislation congressional Democrats are discussing.
doufree on November 7, 2008 at 12:49 PM
Two words:
INTELLECTUALLY BANKRUPT
matthewbit07 on November 7, 2008 at 12:55 PM
Part of the problem is that voters on both sides of the aisle, and in the middle, simply don’t believe the Republicans are the party of tax less, spend less any more. Leadership and results have shown that they aren’t.
You can’t claim that the other side was hoodwinked when that’s exactly what you’re trying to do, too.
12thMonkey on November 7, 2008 at 1:36 PM
McConnell needs a reminder who he works for too.
I think we all agree the problem is letting fake Republicans in, not that we don’t have enough of them.
gippergal1984 on November 7, 2008 at 3:44 PM
How about returning to traditional values like “individual rights and personal responsibility”?
I guess this idea is so ‘passe’ the republicans don’t even want to touch it anymore, eh?
Spiritk9 on November 7, 2008 at 3:48 PM
You have to have dynamic, cheerful messengers, not scolding frumps.
Obama won because of a bizarre combination of factors: 1) enough starry-eyed suckers (and vengeful cynics), both white and black, believed that, like the original O.J. verdict, it was Payback Time for Whitey (on the causasian front, it became a desire to absolve gnawing White Liberal Guilt with a symbolic mea culpa incarnated by Mr. Reparations-In-Chief), 2) deep-seated Bush hatred, and 3) panic over a messy economy.
A serious and optimistic conservative Republican candidate could have fought Obama’s “historical” showboating, but it would have required speaking about these facts honestly, and calling Obama an absurdly unqualified, laughably radical, race-baiting fraudmeister.
And remind voters that a truly good black candidate, like a Martin Luther King, Jr., would have been magnificent, but a cheap flim-flam artist like Obama had no right to steal the glory of those who fought the good fight and hijack their worthy movement for his radical leftist, crypto-Marxist agenda, which is anathema to the black community’s – and the majority of America’s- values.
Fear of offending the “new black fellow” lost this election.
Timidity always loses.
Uncertainty always loses.
Unwillingness to speak hard truths always loses.
profitsbeard on November 7, 2008 at 6:13 PM
profitsbeard on November 7, 2008 at 6:13 PM
Post of the week. Amen brother.
If Palin had been on top of the ticket since Feb campaigning for herself she would have kicked Barry to the curb.
With a 1000 watt smile on her angelic face.
DeweyWins on November 7, 2008 at 7:03 PM
Obama won because:
1. His campaign was better organized, better executed, and his message was better articulated. McCain/Palin was not a bad ticket and all, but they couldn’t seem to get their act together into a consistently compelling case for why they would have been a better choice. Obama inspired more confidence, even with ideas that were highly questionable and with far less experience. He was able to position himself as a moderate even though his own voting record is far-left.
2. Obama had tremendous personal charisma and knew how to use it. He also heavily mined for the black urban vote and it came out big for him.
3. Obama knew how to use the media to his advantage better than the McCain campaign – internet, radio, tv, print
4. Obama articulately dismissed criticisms leveled against him and McCain’s campaign has little real response to them. Even worse, when Obama criticized McCain, the GOP did not effectively respond/debunk the criticism
5. Obama’s campaign beat the GOP at their own get-out-the-vote game. They went for everything, everywhere — and it paid off handsomely for them.
6. When economy became the #1 issue, McCain’s campaign faltered — as if they were caught off guard and didn’t really know what to do about it. Obama didn’t make that mistake
7. Obama sold “hope” to the masses, and they bought it in bulk quantities. They were convinced that any change he brought would be for the better, even though there was no clearly defined concept on what the “change we need”, “change we can believe in” actually is.
8. The GOP seemed to be using older Bush strategies which worked well in 2000 and 2004, but did not take into account certain demographic considerations in this election.
The GOP can roar back as it has from previous defeats, but it needs an articulate voice and compelling vision, not finger pointing and fault finding. We need to be able to sell our vision back to America the way we did in the Clinton years, mindful of today’s issues and demographic realities.
mark88hosting on November 7, 2008 at 8:22 PM
so why is it that we.. the base… can’t organize and get the message through their thick skulls?
Noelie on November 7, 2008 at 9:27 PM
The right did what it could to show that he wasn’t a moderate and that McCain/Palin were mavericks.(though McCain and Palin were mavericks of opposite extremes) The media helped paint Obama in the middle. Obama inspire people with pure fluff and no content and the masses were easily impressed.
It didn’t come out that big for him. Black turnout in 2004:11%, in 2008:13%. But He didn’t just mine the black vote, he instigated race and class warfare so much that Ohio had it’s police prepared for a riot.
Obama’s campaign quickly noticed that the media oogled him and used that opportunity and ran with it.
Yeah, Obama simply dismissed the criticism by insulting the critics rather than providing substantive counter arguments. Calling his critics selfish or insinuating bigotry was all the lazy thinking voters needed to hear.
It did not. Just as many people voted in 2004 as they did in 2008. Then number of youth voting was same as well.
I thought both responded pretty much at the same time. However, McCain should have got on his soap box and screamed, I told the liberals this was going to happen and they did nothing.
This proves what I’ve been saying about lazy thinking Americans. Fluffy feelings of hope override rational thought about important issues.
Sorry to be so negative. Michelle and Ed might consider me one of the whiny ones. I just think I’m seeing things the way they are. The media was in the tank for the One and a good percentage of the American people wanted to believe the easy road was better. Unfortunately we all will likely learn the hard way.(and some still wont even then)
shick on November 7, 2008 at 11:49 PM
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