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ProSense

(116,464 posts)
Sat Jan 26, 2013, 03:49 PM Jan 2013

Robert Reich: The GOP Crackup: How Obama is Unraveling Reagan Republicanism

The GOP Crackup: How Obama is Unraveling Reagan Republicanism

Soon after President Obama’s second inaugural address, John Boehner said the White House would try “to annihilate the Republican Party” and “shove us into the dustbin of history.”

Actually, the GOP is doing a pretty good job annihilating itself...All President Obama has done is finally found ways to exploit these inconsistencies.

<...>

Ronald Reagan papered over these differences with a happy anti-big-government nationalism. His patriotic imagery inspired the nativists and social conservatives...But Reagan’s coalition remained fragile. It depended fundamentally on creating a common enemy: communists and terrorists abroad, liberals and people of color at home...Reagan’s GOP celebrated Norman Rockwell’s traditional, white middle-class, small-town America. Below the surface it stoked fires of fear and hate of “others” who threatened this idealized portrait.

In his first term Barack Obama seemed the perfect foil: A black man, a big- spending liberal, perhaps (they hissed) not even an American...Right-wing TV and radio snarled he secretly wanted to take over America, suspend our rights. Mitch McConnell declared that unseating him was his party’s first priority...it didn’t work...The 2012 election exposed something else about the GOP: it’s utter lack of touch with reality, its bizarre incapacity to see and understand what was happening in the country.

All of which has given Obama the perfect opening..Obama’s focus in his second inaugural — and, by inference, in his second term — on equal opportunity is hardly a radical agenda. But it aggravates all the tensions inside the GOP...In hammering home the need for the rich to contribute a fair share in order to ensure equal opportunity, and for anyone in America — be they poor, black, gay, immigrant, women, or average working person — to be able to make the most of themselves, Obama advances the founding ideals of America in such way that the Republican Party is incapable of opposing yet also incapable of uniting behind.

- more -

http://robertreich.org/post/41456134467

President of the Whole Country
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022237431

Obama Reboot
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022250933

17 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Robert Reich: The GOP Crackup: How Obama is Unraveling Reagan Republicanism (Original Post) ProSense Jan 2013 OP
Kick! n/t ProSense Jan 2013 #1
K&R patrice Jan 2013 #2
Wow, that is a really good article mindwalker_i Jan 2013 #3
It is. ProSense Jan 2013 #11
John Boehner said amuse bouche Jan 2013 #4
I know, huh? Cha Jan 2013 #6
Right on! vlyons Jan 2013 #5
We're fighting an enemy that is against humanity. Cha Jan 2013 #7
Love Reich. Boehner using "happy anti-big-government nationalism" to inspire "the nativists and pampango Jan 2013 #8
Sweep them into the dust bin... love_katz Jan 2013 #9
If they don't Gerrymander they are doomed sellitman Jan 2013 #10
If that doesn't work, they ProSense Jan 2013 #12
Excellent read! zappaman Jan 2013 #13
Kick! n/t ProSense Jan 2013 #14
Immigration legislation will save them. kentuck Jan 2013 #15
Yeah, ProSense Jan 2013 #16
Three words: Occupy Wall Street rgbecker Jan 2013 #17

mindwalker_i

(4,407 posts)
3. Wow, that is a really good article
Sat Jan 26, 2013, 05:28 PM
Jan 2013

It lays out a lot of things that are, by and large, obvious, but brings them all together. the efforts to change the electoral college indicate that perhaps the Republicans understand all of this, and are hoping that they can focus on issues that unite a smaller (minded) base, and still win elections.

amuse bouche

(3,657 posts)
4. John Boehner said
Sat Jan 26, 2013, 05:29 PM
Jan 2013

the White House would try “to annihilate the Republican Party” and “shove us into the dustbin of history.”

He says that like it would be a bad thing.

Cha

(295,899 posts)
7. We're fighting an enemy that is against humanity.
Sat Jan 26, 2013, 05:58 PM
Jan 2013
Obama’s focus in his second inaugural — and, by inference, in his second term — on equal opportunity is hardly a radical agenda. But it aggravates all the tensions inside the GOP...In hammering home the need for the rich to contribute a fair share in order to ensure equal opportunity, and for anyone in America — be they poor, black, gay, immigrant, women, or average working person — to be able to make the most of themselves, Obama advances the founding ideals of America in such way that the Republican Party is incapable of opposing yet also incapable of uniting behind.


Who are also Global Climate Change Deniers.

Now, There's no Denying Climate Change
Now as Election Day approaches, I have new criterion to evaluate the candidates. Climate change is a point of contention that demonstrates the gaping schism between two presidential contenders. During the Democratic and Republican conventions we saw contrasting rhetoric with regards to this defining topic. When the bright lights finally lowered onto Governor Mitt Romney and 33 million people were tuned in to the Republican convention to hear the challenger voice his opinions on the future of the nation he sought to lead, the candidate spent precious air time obnoxiously ridiculing President Barack Obama's efforts to care for our environment and lead the United States towards energy independence. While the nation sat on the edge of their seats waiting for the Governor to disseminate an agenda that would define his campaign of "change," he spent cherished moments criticizing environmental conservation efforts.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chase-guttman/now-theres-no-denying-cli_b_2069032.html

Koch Brothers Fund Bogus Studies to Kill Renewable Energy

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/koch-brothers-fund-bogus-studies-to-kill-renewable-energy

Thanks Pro Sense

pampango

(24,692 posts)
8. Love Reich. Boehner using "happy anti-big-government nationalism" to inspire "the nativists and
Sat Jan 26, 2013, 06:20 PM
Jan 2013

social conservatives..."

Reich hits the nail on the head as usual.

kentuck

(110,950 posts)
15. Immigration legislation will save them.
Mon Jan 28, 2013, 10:38 AM
Jan 2013

And the Democrats will do all they can to help them pass immigration reform that is favorable to the Republican Party. The death of the two-Party system is highly exaggerated, imo.

ProSense

(116,464 posts)
16. Yeah,
Mon Jan 28, 2013, 10:42 AM
Jan 2013

"Immigration legislation will save them...And the Democrats will do all they can to help them pass immigration reform that is favorable to the Republican Party."

...like health care reform saved them. They thought it would for a while, and then 2012 smacked them in the face.

They're not serious about anything, and this too will smack them in the face down the road.

McCain's inclusion is also of interest, in large because it reflects a hard-to-execute flip-flop-flip -- McCain championed a comprehensive reform package in 2007, then announced his opposition to his own plan in 2008, and has now re-embraced the policies he rejected.

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/01/28/16736295-bipartisan-group-of-senators-complete-immigration-reform-package

That's what Republicans do: Clog up the process and then bail when the time for action comes.

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