Our Mesmerizer-in-Chief

A while back, when the president and Republicans couldn’t agree on whether it was day or night or what day it was, I came up with this brilliant idea: Republicans should give Barack Obama everything he wants. And by everything, I meant … everything.

You want higher taxes on the wealthy, Mr. President even though that might lead us into another recession? You got it. You want to pass healthcare reform that will raise about 20 new taxes and keep the economy in the doldrums? We won’t waste your time, and ours, fighting over it. Whatever else you want, Mr. President, it’s yours – because we’re tired of fighting over everything with you.

But there was a method to this madness. I figured when the economy tanks, when millions more Americans lose their jobs, when people realize ObamaCare is the nightmare Republicans were warning about, the president and his cronies in Congress would get all the blame and that would usher in a new era of conservative ascendance.

That’s what happened in Ayn Rand’s classic, Atlas Shrugged, right? The big government incompetents screwed things up so royally that the economy collapsed – completely and utterly collapsed — and only then did the good guys – the business men and women who understood how the free market works – only then did they come out of hiding and begin to make America right again

Now I’m convinced that the Republican brand is so tarnished – no, make that so discredited – that they will get blamed for absolutely everything that goes wrong starting right now.

If we go over the so-called “fiscal cliff” Americans will blame the Republicans. They’re obstructionists, the media and a majority of Americans will say. If we avoid the cliff, Mr. Obama and his party will get all the credit “for looking out for people like me.”

If the economy takes another dive next year because we raised taxes on the wealthiest Americans but didn’t cut spending by much, if at all, Republicans will get blamed for that too. If we don’t slip into another recession, the president will be hailed as a great visionary who by his superior intellect saved the economy and the country.

If it turns out that the president and his team were lying about Benghazi – that they knew all along it was an act of terrorism and came up with the anti-Islam video cover story to make it look like al-qaeda really was decimated as the president kept telling us during the campaign – the media will say, and the American people will believe, that the Republicans are despicably using the deaths of four Americans for political gain. Facts won’t matter.

If it turns out that ObamaCare is as bad as we thought – if doctors stop taking Medicare patients because their fees have been cut, or if certain medical procedures are denied because they’re not cost effective — Republicans will take the hit because they didn’t do enough to stop the law from going through. That not one Republican voted for ObamaCare won’t matter one wit.

If Iran winds up with a nuclear bomb, Republicans will get blamed because they didn’t want to talk, one on one, with the Iranians. If the president winds up talking one on one with the Iranians, and the talks go nowhere, Republicans will still get blamed because they’re too bellicose.

Why am I so pessimistic – or realistic, as I choose to see it? Because just as Barack Obama cast a spell over a majority of journalists a long time ago, he has clearly also cast a spell over a majority of Americans. He is our mesmerizer-in-chief.

When all my conservative pals were telling me that Obama couldn’t possibly win re-election – not with chronically high unemployment and chronically low economic growth – I told them that this president was different; that the old rules no longer applied. I told them that this president wasn’t Mondale or Dukakis or Gore or Kerry. I told them that this president was magic, and that Americans were taken in by his smile, his charm, by the way he spoke and the way he walked. The president was cool. But my friends on the Right didn’t think cool mattered, not when the economy was in the tank.

I will not say they were wrong and I was right because that would not be gracious, even though they were wrong and I was right.

Things don’t look good for the GOP. If they hope to make a comeback they need a good PR firm to help change the party’s stodgy image. Every time I see the Republican leadership holding court with reporters in the halls of Congress, I cringe. These guys, in the dark suits, white shirts and red ties, give dull a bad name.

The GOP needs some young blood. Remember, the “O” in GOP stands for “old.” What Republicans need is a conservative Barack Obama. Like it or not, in our entertainment culture, cool matters.

Republicans also need to make clear to everyone paying attention, that they are not the party that believes that if rape happens, it’s part of God’s plan. They need to make clear that they are not the party of religious zealots who take their marching orders from the Bible. They need to stop uttering the word “abortion.” That ship has sailed. It’s legal whether they like it or not, and that’s not about to change, so why lose votes talking about it.

Here’s the good news for the GOP: Except for Obama, the rest of the Democrats are stiffs just like the Republicans. Unless you count Hillary. That’s more bad news for the Republicans.

the head of Ruplican party and the old dogs are all part of the system..they have grown rich helping their liberal brothers..to them both sides of the isle is the in crown and tea party members are the enemy..out to ruin their way of theft..thats why they keep importing liberal leftist voters ..so the masses can keep supporting the few in DC.As long as they can pit us against each other they win.

Just for the sake of argument, let's say the Repubican Party did drop the pro-life plank from their platform.

Why would people then vote for Republicans?

Goldberg's thesis suggests there would still be a difference between the RATS and RINOs. The question is, what would that difference be?

Whatever the difference is, are we to believe it would be something people genuinely think is something that would be to their benefit but they are willing to sacrifice it because of the abortion issue?

A government that defines a group of people as fair game for murder by other people is a totalitarian government. It is a genocidal government. It is wholly illegitimate.

For forty years, our government has been illegitimate. We have been in that state described in the Declaration—i.e., we have been tolerating its crimes because they have been tolerable. (In the case of abortion, the genocide has been “tolerable” because everyone who has been born has had little to fear.)

We will either get rid of the fiction of “legal” abortion, and restore the legitimacy of our current government—or we will fail to do so and eventually see the principles by which it now operates reach their logical conclusion: Intolerable crimes against the born, and the consequent overt rebellion, violence, death, and destruction.

I appreciate your comments very much. When I posted I was very depressed. No matter how I try to find a bright side to where our country is I can’t do it. I am in ill health and this response will be shorter than I would like.

One thing I must mention is your involvement in the anti-war movement during the Vietnam era. I was interested in who you were then and who you are now. I want to quote you;

“Somewhere in that haze I saw Jesus Christ and I asked Him to guide me out, I asked Him to give me His strength and wisdom and to live in me even though I am not worthy of Him. He did.”

To me, that says it all. I too have come to recognize that Christ is our solace and our strength. It is helpful to remember that he is in control. It is easy to forget that.

If America survives it will be his will. If this nation does not survive that too is his decision. There are so many people in today’s America who scoff at the idea of a higher being. Some who read this post may feel that way.

But just as you changed in your life I have changed in mine. For at least forty years I refused to go in to a church unless there was a marriage or a funeral. Twelve years ago I agreed to attend church with some new friends. The sermon that day was about New Beginnings. It was an uncanny experience. I joined that church. I am blessed with a church family and I have a better perspective on my life.

Your remarks reminded me that it is not the time to despair. It is not the time to give up. I am committed to working as hard as I can to preserve my country. I understand that one person may achieve very little in the struggle we are involved in. But the obligation is to do whatever we can.

I thank you for your post. I rejoice in the fact that we are not alone.

Chris37,

You are correct to understand that it is futile to fight politically and that is also the answer for the left’s hegemony in our schools, universities and culture. For instance, President Obama’s work to advance gay rights is nothing compared to what Will and Grace accomplished. Further, how many “educated” people have you meet that have never read the Federalist Papers or Alexis de Tocqueville?

Instead of studying Alinsky, we should study Gramci and cultural hegemony.

I regret not getting back to you sooner. I have been hospitalize several times and the latest prognosis confirms that my 35 year diabetes has finally destroyed my kidney functions. I am 77 years old and I have had a full life.

I have seen my country evolve from a nation that generally despised me because of the color of my skin that elected Obama because of the color of his skin.

That was a grievous mistake. It may result in the end of America as a nation unlike any before it. My country has been the beacon of hope for people all over the world. Even today they risk their lives getting here.

There has been a role reversal. Vicious racists who kill others because of the color of their skin are too often blacks. I feel the same revulsion for them as I did for the hooded, sheet wearing white scum of the KKK.

If I could push a button and destroy every racist piece of dirt in America, black or white, I would do it immediately.

I deeply appreciate your report on your own political evolution . I respect you very much for that honesty. It is sad that all people are not able to self-examine the way that you have.

I hope that you had a Merry Christmas and I wish you a Happy and prosperous New Year.

It’s hard to understand how the greatest country on earth has also produced some of purest envy and hate.

Somehow, we lost our way, and it is very sad.

God Bless you, Gene, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you as well, kind sir.

I am very sad to hear the news of your health. I am also diabetic and am doing my very best to maintain proper blood sugar levels. I know at some point though, my body is going to fail me. But this is the time that I will see again the loved ones whom I’ve lost, and that is all that matters.

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