RIP Republican Party

I've been saying this for months, but I want to write this down for I told you so's sake.

I am a hater. I hate on everything. I sure as hell am not impressed by many people. Especially politicians.

During the primaries, I was all about Kucinich. Still am. But, being a pragmatic liberal, one has to live in reality. So I thought Edwards was the man. His populist rhetoric was too good to ignore. Even though it was mostly hot air, his anti-business vitriol now seems prescient after the Wall Street disaster. The primaries came and he bowed out. Oh well.

Then it was Obama and Clinton. I never heard of this Obama guy, so I defaulted to Clinton. In watching those two square off, something became very apparent; Obama and/or his staff were the most brilliant political operatives this country has seen in a long time. How he kept race out of the discussion, except on his terms, after the Reverend Wright bomb is nothing short of miraculous and will be looked at as the most politically cunning move since the southern strategy.

Ok, he wins the presidency. First black president, and only 4 decades removed from the Civil Rights Movement. Astounding. Incredible. We get it.

His brilliance comes, not from winning the presidency, but from how he has governed. Obama is a centrist. He is to the right of every Democratic candidate from '08. He is pro-business ("I've always been a strong believer in the power of the free market. I believe that jobs are best created not by government, but by businesses and entrepreneurs willing to take a risk on a good idea. I believe that the role of government is not to disparage wealth, but to expand its reach; not to stifle markets, but to provide the ground rules and level playing field that helps to make them more vibrant - and that will allow us to better tap the creative and innovative potential of our people. For we know that it is the dynamism of our people that has been the source of America's progress and prosperity."), pro charter school and does not shy from war. Calling him a socialist is almost laughable. But you know what? I think he likes it.

Obama knows the Limbaughs, Becks and Fox News are just in it for the money and will say anything to get fatter. So you know what he does? He says these guys are the Republican party. He wants them to go all McCarthy on us and speak as hyperbolically as possible because the secure Republican base will eat it up. He is acting concomitantly with the right wing smoke stacks to redefine the Republican party as whackos.

The best part of it? The Republican party is eating it up! They embrace the teabaggers and birthers (maybe not ostensibly, but certainly by refusing to deny. Remember "If muslims are against 9/11, where are all of the Muslim leaders decrying it?") in an astoundingly short-sighted political move to try to derail health care reform.

Now, I like conservatives. Intelligent, principled conservatism is a defensible platform. I think a lot can be learned and implemented from this school of thought. I also think conservatives should have a say in the government in order to avoid a single-party dictatorship.

Ok, now my main point. What Obama is doing is successfully branding the Republican party as the party of Limbaugh while simultaneously taking reasonable conservative measures as his own. Since the party of Limbaugh is tantamount to the party of anti-Obama, what is the Republican party going to do when Obama's platform is partly made up of conservative principles? And when he makes moves that anger the political left, where are they going to go? Something tells me they are not all of a sudden going to demand to see Obama's birth certificate. At some point Republican leadership will realize their folly and reign in the crazy. But where will they be? Obama will have his name on health care reform and ending the hugely unpopular wars. And when they suggest reforms... whoops! Obama has already co-opted them as his own!

This is why I have come around on this Obama guy to realize he is working at a meta-political level. He is giving his opposition enough rope to hang themselves when he could easily point out how his policies and actions are anything but socialism. His empty vessel nature also enables him to slowly nudge the hard-left into realizing not all conservative ideas are hell's spawn.

The great unifier? We shall see. But as for now, we'll have to settle for Republican slayer.