Why Republicans Won't Win in November

Why? Because Republicans (Gingrich variety, not Goldwater) believe government is inherently bad. They believe the only good government is a smaller government…or better yet, no government at all. They is why the current administration has spent so much time gutting federal budgets, laying off workers, and dismantling every department, agency or commission that exists. The Bush-Cheney approach to government has only three goals, as one Republican described it to me not long ago, “Defend the shores, deliver the mail, and stay the hell out of my life.” That is a sad and pathetic commentary on the intelligence of the people being manipulated in the Republican Party these days.

Democrats, on the other hand, see the good that government does and only want to make it more efficient as it serves the citizens. Our national problems are monumental and not easily resolved. They are going to take some work, some intelligent application of skills and the talents of all Americans. Democrats also believe government has a role to play in meeting the needs of the citizens, that citizens and veterans should not be left to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps when disaster hits (hurricanes in Louisiana, floods in the Midwest, wounded soldiers coming home to moldy health facilities, soldiers foreclosed on while in the service of their country). People with problems are simply told to buck up and get busy. As Bush said to flood victims in the Midwest recently, “You will be fine soon, you’ll come back better” (whatever that is supposed to mean).

Republicans think Obama is naïve and foolish if he thinks he is going to change things. Know what? He already has. He has already done what few thought he could. He became the first black man to win his party’s nomination. He did it by engendering a remarkable level of trust in primary voters and a belief by those same voters that America can be better.

Millions of disaffected voters have found the one guy with the requisite judgment and associated job skills necessary to make a difference in the enormously challenging job of President. By winning their trust, he also motivated many who had never participated in the presidential selection process to give their own small contributions to the Obama campaign. Yes, he has big money contributors but he has no federal lobbyists, and most importantly, he has 1.8 million contributors. If each gave only $100 that would be $180 million, so yes, of the $226 million he raised in the primaries I’m prepared to say most came from small contributions. These are the people who support him with a passion and who will pass the passion to their neighbors in time to take their country back this November.

But this is something Bush-Cheney Republicans do not, and apparently, cannot understand. That’s fine with me. They’ll still be welcome at the inauguration next January.