Real Kato Blog: Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead

The pieces of the Bush presidency continue to fall apart. Will Democrats take advantage?

Can you believe it? Karl Rove (a.k.a. Bush's brain, Turd Blossom, the mastermind of the Republican revolution) is resigning. It's almost too good to be true.

Back when Rove was winning the presidency for Bush, people figured it was inevitable that his plan for a permanent Republican majority would succeed. Rove was the one who turned America's eyes onto issues like gay marriage and partial-birth abortion, distracting us from problems in our economy and our health care system. All political debate swirled around Republican issues, and so Republicans won in landslides.

But you live by the sword, you die by the sword. The centerpiece of the 2004 Republican campaign, the Iraq war, turned sour. Republicans couldn't unhitch their wagons from that train quickly enough to avoid losing control of Congress in 2006. In hindsight, perhaps they regret investing so heavily in issues tied to the conservative base; now that the central debate has shifted to ending the Iraq war, to solving the health care crisis, and to fixing the economy, single-issue Republicans have lost their appeal among moderates.

So no one thinks Rove is a genius any more. I'm wondering who is crafting Republican strategy now. The party, once so solidly able to stick to their talking points, now is full of mixed messages. They're a party in turmoil; they're like the Democrats of the Mike Dukakis era.

The problem for the Democrats is that they're still the Democrats of the Mike Dukakis era. Democrats have a golden opportunity to seize the debate floor, to put the Republicans on the defensive on issues where they're strongest. Yet they still muddle around, trying to appear strong on terrorism, while being as inoffensive as possible. Dang milquetoasts.

At least Barack Obama is willing to make a few controversial statements. Does it show his inexperience? Sure. But he shouldn't back down. If anything, he should go further out on a limb. Go on, Barack, put out some wild-ass ideas. It's better than just sitting here doing more of the same.

The one Democrat who is valiantly trying to turn the debate towards a solidly Democratic issue is Al Gore, with his crusade against global warming. I don't know if it'd be enough to win a presidency, and most likely Gore has lost his appetite for the campaign trail. But whoa, imagine Gore as head of the EPA.

I'll have more on all the presidential candidates later, once I've done some more research. I can't say that I'm fully behind anyone right now. I will say that Rudy Giuliani has the capacity to pass Bush as the Worst President Ever. But all the candidates certainly have flaws.

Permalink 4 Comment

Posted by Ken in: politics

Comments

Comment #1 from John C (Guest)
2007 Aug 16 - 10:58 pm : #

I saw Al Gore speak, and he introduced himself as a "recovering politician", and "the former next president of the united states". I am pretty sure he is out.

Comment #2 from Steve (Guest)
2007 Aug 17 - 2:34 pm : #

"I'm wondering who is crafting Republican strategy now."

What do you think Rove is retiring to do?

Comment #3 from Steve (Guest)
2007 Aug 17 - 2:35 pm : #

I meant "resigning", not "retiring".

Comment #4 from Crouching Hamster (Guest)
2007 Aug 19 - 10:02 pm : #

I'm with Steve: see Rove's recent attacks on Hillary.

Spending time with his family? My ass.

Something tells me he'll soon be spending time with Mitt Romney's family.

Comments are closed for this post.

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