As the Somali pirate standoff came to close I, like any other American following the crisis, was wholly reassured to see the courageous Captain Phillips escape from the potentially fatal face-off with his life. The good guys won. The bad guys lost. What better way could any foreign policy crises end? Not good enough for Sean Hannity it seems. On Monday evening Hannity ran a segment titled “Spinning The Pirate Crisis” where he criticized the Obama White House for “taking credit” for bringing about a desirable conclusion to the lengthy pirate standoff. Hannity’s outrage was so ill conceived that the chasm between his remarks and the attitude of conservative commentator and Hannity regular Bernard Goldberg was hard to miss. Goldberg was of the mind that “we have to stop going out of our way to find fault with every single thing he does”.
Goldberg has it right; by projecting a kneejerk opposition to the Obama administration the Republican Party will only dig itself further into exile. Given the way President Bush was treated during his eight year term in office I never thought I’d have to remind fellow Republicans that this type of opposition is dishonest, illogical, and hyper-partisan. Goldberg summoned it up when he said:
“You remember when liberals wouldn’t give George Bush credit for anything? If he came up with a cure for cancer, they wouldn’t have given him credit for that, and, I’m sorry Sean, I see that on the right now.”
Ultimately rebuilding the Republican Party from the ground up is going to require a detachment from these sort of predictable hypocrisies. Don’t get me wrong my opposition to the direction that the Obama administration is leading our country is clear and unwavering, but it is based on recognizable ideological and political disagreements rather than petty objections. The Hannity/Goldberg disagreement illustrates an important dynamic that I hope becomes more prevalent in conservative circles: Bandwagon politics never lasts long. As a party we have to recognize when our political and ideological leaders get off base and help bring them back to the fold. Although the fringe at the HuffingtonPost might consider inner party disagreements indicative of civil war, it is my belief that the center will invariably be drawn to the party that practices what it preaches in and out of power. Being ideologically opposed to the goals of the Obama administration shouldn’t mean that we have to disapprove just for the sake of disapproving. After all, this is the sort of reasoning that continues to prevent Democrats from giving Bush credit for anything he did least of all turning around a war they had already proclaimed lost. We have to be different.
Since the Republican Party is likely to maintain its minority position for the near future it would be wise to save its constructive opposition for the important battles on the horizon, rather than concern itself with whether or not Obama should get credit for taking out a couple of pirates. Picking the right fight is a lesson we ought to learn sooner than later.
Last 5 posts by Emil G. Maine
- Why America Needs More Clunkers - August 1st, 2009
- A Dishonest Debate - April 24th, 2009
- The Limitations of Popularity - April 8th, 2009
- Learning from Rahm - April 2nd, 2009
I agree, just because the democrats used these tactics when Bush was in office doesn’t mean we have to, we should learn from their mistakes and be the “bigger man”.
I totally agree. These type of arguments hurt us more than they help. It makes conservatives look petty. It lets the liberal news media focus on these arguments and gives them ammunition to make us look irrelevant. Focus on real policy, legal, and moral disagreements we have with the liberals. Don’t go around finding fault for fault’s sake.
Look, conservatives or republicans are going to be called ‘petty’ and ‘mean spirited’ (remember that one??) regardless of what we do. It really doesn’t matter. If a single person on the Right say something, the coordinated Obama attack machine will put their media cronies out there to blame every single one of us. There is no escaping that.
The only answer is a good offense. Playing defense on a playing field which is totally tilted to the other side is pointless. You block the punches and then counter-punch. If you leave out the counter-punch, then there is no point in trying to avoid the bludgeoning you will get in the media.
When Obama agrees with us, let’s celebrate it. And celebrate the fact that he joined US and not let him claim WE supported HIM. Clinton used to co-opt our ideas in the 90s and instead or welcoming him to the side of sanity we whined about how he was pretending to be a conservative. Hell, let’s just outright accuse him of becoming conservative. What could be more exasperating to the lefties in the press?
When you are the party out of power, it’s incredibly hard to rally around anything. The dems lost virtually the end decade of the 90s and though they had the WH. We need to get back to the basics and put out better ideas and them smack down the horrible ones that liberals put out. When they are wrong, call them on it. Constantly point out the gap between their policies and actual freedom or capitalism. Never miss the chance to associate their actions with those of socialists. Nobody wants to be a socialist – at least not in public.
I am a Republican but am insulted by the “tea parties” because they are so childish and immature. Even school children can see through them. There was a time that I respected the party for its wisdom and leadership. Now it has degraded into being a group of grumpy people who watch the same TV programs and exchange political groupthink with one another.
At one time, Republicans worried that JFK would take direction from the Pope. Now Republicans have their own Pope in the form of Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity and they obediently march to their instructions.
The party needs away from the “national groupthink” and defining simply as being opposed to anything the other guys are for, it has little hope. Additionally attacking personailities doesn’t win hearts and minds.
The tax argument is a weak one because the average person didn’t benefit from the Bush tax cuts when they occured. With regard to “Right to Life” there is a confusing message because the death penalty and gun control also fall under the “Right to Life” mantra.
“When they are wrong, call them on it. Constantly point out the gap between their policies and actual freedom or capitalism. Never miss the chance to associate their actions with those of socialists. Nobody wants to be a socialist – at least not in public.”
bpjam, I agree with your above statement and it is exactly what I was getting at. When they are wrong call them on it by all means. But making a big issue out of Obama taking credit for this captain being rescued is distracting and unnecessary.
I agree we must stay on offense and I agree we will be called petty no matter what our argument, but people can see through the reporting much of the time. If we are being petty, people will know. If we making a valid point that the media is trying to portray as petty, people will see through the media as well (smart ones anway). Offense using little irrelevant issues is impotent offense. Offense using real issues can be powerful.
This brings up a good point. Hannity should stay away from from branding himself as someone who mouths off at every insignificant event. If he continues down this path, his opinions will slowly lose their credibility.
The GOP is a party of self-righteous hacks and booger-eating redneck imbicils.