Normally this would be pretty basic story. One leader paying homage to another. But not today.
In this trip to the Vatican, President Obama has an eye to the November elections.
Here's why it makes things difficult for the GOP.
First, with his emphasis on wealth inequality, Pope Francis has put the GOP in an uncomfortable identity position. By his words, Republicans have been forced to confront accusations that their social conservatism does not extend to the war on poverty (see Paul Ryan being challenged on Catholic TV). Conservatives are thus also being forced to balance their political faith in a more difficult relationship with American Catholicism - traditionally a strong voting bloc. At a thematic level, the Pope's inequality narrative will force the GOP to face up to new thinking in social politics (something I've previously written on here).
Second, Obama's visit has given him a major forum from which to assert his domestic inequality agenda. Post this visit, for example, you can be confident that the White House will employ a budding message - 'The Pope supports Obama, so shouldn't you?'. As an extension, Obama's visit will force the GOP to assert a countermanding, front page inequality narrative. While the GOP has such a narrative (again, Paul Ryan has done great work here), a campaign that focuses on poverty doesn't flow with the GOP's favored electoral strategy - focusing on ObamaCare as its core (perhaps even singular) issue. Regardless, recognizing the political power of Catholicism in America (especially among Hispanic American voters), the GOP knows that it cannot afford to repudiate the Pope with one liners.
For my own thoughts, the GOP should focus its response in two areas - rebutting the assumed social utility of a welfare state and providing serious health care alternatives.
My thoughts on these concerns can be found here, here and here.
16 days overdue, thus ends an
American take on Monty Python. Without the satire.
The White House has preserved
ObamaCare, Democrats have won clean resolutions and the GOP has been humbled
into a very public and very bloody retreat.
For Republicans, there are only
two positives.
First, with this deal, the Senate
Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, has probably saved the GOP from being
vanquished in next year’s Mid-Terms. Second, McConnell has challenged the
President to live up to his word and engage in serious negotiations (my take on 'serious') before next
January. In short, McConnell has given CPR to a party drowning in emotion.
For leading the GOP off its Maginot Line, McConnell deserves the gratitude of all conservatives.
Unfortunately, he won’t get it.
Instead, the
very opposite is likely to occur. Conservative firebrands will rage against his
‘betrayal of conservative values’. McConnell’s primary challenger, Matt Bevin,
can expect his campaign coffers to brim. After all, for a loud but vocal
conservative minority, compromise is treason. A capital crime. This insipid absolutism can’t
continue. It’s time for us, the majority of conservatives; the ‘quiet
conservatives’, to bring reason back to Republican politics.
For a start, we need to recognize
what we’re up against - that there are those in our movement who see ‘purity’
as their defining cause. That for these conservatives, politics isn’t about
asserting an agenda, it’s about purging the ‘ideologically impure’. We need to
recognize that these partisans see themselves as the modern incarnations of
John Stark’s heroic toast, - ‘’Live free or die; death is not the worst of
evils.’’ That for these men and women, political death is preferable to compromise.
Next, we need to point out the
fallacy of their argument.
Let’s cut the faux patriotism,
ObamaCare is not the British Army and this isn’t the Revolutionary War. In their struggle, Stark and his
comrades were fighting for an ideal that was both pure and possible – freedom
and independence.
Neither was true with regards to
the GOP strategy on ObamaCare. As I argued earlier this week, demanding that
Obama sacrifice his landmark law was always
implausible. Democrats control the Senate and the Executive. The Judiciary
has rendered its decision- the law conforms with the Constitution. The polls
were also clear- Americans might dislike ObamaCare, but they disliked the GOP’s
brinkmanship even
more. On top of it all, Obama had a post-Syria
necessity to project clear leadership.
Unsurprisingly, the news coverage
has reflected this understanding. Instead of focusing on the absurd
incompetence of the ObamaCare rollout, the media set up camp on a different
story – one centered in a Republican celebration of rudderless obstructionism. A
political opposition marching in perfect step with Democratic propaganda. A
modern tea party… without the tea.
For conservatives, this strategic
delusion speaks to our burgeoning fetish - self-immolation at the shrine of partisan
resistance.
Over the last two weeks, the
House GOP has rendered itself the governing equivalent of a skydiving team
without parachutes- for two minutes, soaring ecstasy as the jumpers sail through
the clouds. Until terminal velocity meets certain gravity. Then truth renders
its judgment – the illusion of omnipotence at an awful price. Self-destruction is the nemesis of political reason.
If we’re serious
about preventing an American welfare state, we conservatives need to get
serious.
We need to grasp the virtuous
truth- that Political leadership demands both courage and rationality. That in
a democracy, believing alone isn’t enough. In the end as with all arguments, political
success requires presenting a case, persuading voters and pursuing change.
The alternative is what we’ve
seen today. A gleeful Democratic party, a preaching President and a Republican
brand that’s bobbing in the sewer. Please watch video below for my thoughts on broader issues involved.
