President Obama Broke The National Republican Party and Why It Is Bad
This is how President Obama broke the National Republican Party and it is bad for America. President Obama arguably can be the best and worst thing to happen to America at the same time.
As a Living Simple Minimalist, I usually exist on the sidelines as if I do not have a dog in the fight but I find this disturbing.
When the President took office in 2009 the country was experiencing a full-fledged depression. The United States was in an economic collapse, banking collapse, housing collapse, American Automobile Manufacturers collapse, the Dow Jones was at 7,949.09 and the unemployment rate was at 10 percent.
Why would I believe President Obama could be the worst thing to ever happen to America? Did he make any of those problems worse?
No, he actually performed admirably and corrected all of those problems he inherited but in the process (due to no fault of his) he arguably destroyed the National Republican Party and that is not good for America.
How President Obama Broke The National Republican Party
American citizenship was becoming more diverse, browner, younger, and more secular. For some reason, the National Republican Party was not fond of those facts and for some reason made President Obama the symbol of those changes.
The GOP decided to unleash unprecedented anti-Obama obstruction with unbelievable immediate success cloaked in devastating consequences. In January 2009 the beaten Republican minority in the House of Representatives gathered to lick their wounds.
Just a little over a month earlier the Democrats just destroyed them at the polls seizing the White House and a huge 79 seat advantage in the House of Representatives.
In the first week of President Obama’s presidency, The House of Representatives quickly passed his $800 billion dollar American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a huge stimulus that helped finance President Obama’s agenda to revive the current depression economy.
Meanwhile, the Republican Party’s policy was to sit on the sidelines doing nothing to clean up the mess they created under 8 years of President Bush.
President Obama’s initial success was used by the GOP leadership at an up-scale retreat resort in the nearby Virginia Mountains to proclaim unprecedented unanimous partisan resistance towards anything President Obama.
Washington Republicans took a lot of abuse over their “Party of No” tactics, totally abandoning traditional Washington norms.
Unprecedented unanimous partisan resistance to President Obama was decided to be the way back on top for the National Republican Party.
Obstruction tactics like shutting down the government proved not to be a good look as their approval ratings dropped shortly afterward.
Unfortunately for the Democratic Party, The Republican Tea Party came to power in 2010 as the Decennial Census count was done. The Republican’s congressional and state legislative district boundaries were redrawn by governors and state legislatures favoring Republicans.
Despite the Gerrymandering advantage, the National Republican Party endured even more setbacks as President Obama sailed along to enact almost all of his agenda, won reelection, and enjoyed the highest approval ratings of his Presidency.
The Republican National Party began to go look powerless and divisive as they fought President Obama on everything from the color of his suit to how many times he went golfing.
This Is What A Broken National Republican Party Looks Like
The National Republican Party’s strategy of crapping on President Obama 24 hours a day and 7 days a week was initially successful for them. They went even further by insisting he was an immediate threat to the American way of life.
This initial success empowered The National Republican Party to continue to abandon political norms by not even considering seating any of President Obama’s nominees to the courts.
The stolen openings in the Federal Courts and especially the Supreme Court fueled the National Republican Party in the 2016 Presidential Elections to fill those vacancies.
Problems with The National Republicans Parties’ strategy of crapping on President Obama all of the time began to backfire.
New Republican leaders began crapping on Republican Parties elites along with the Democratic Party President.
There was the time a GOP Congressman Joe Wilson shouted “You lie!” during a presidential address. Also, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell admitted his top priority was limiting Obama to one term.
Republican Lobbyist Ed Rogers said:
“A lot of us woke up every morning thinking about how to kick Obama, who could say the harshest thing about Obama on the air,”
For the most part, the unprecedented Republican Party’s all-out obstruction of President Obama worked for them but maybe not for America as their leaders lost control of the party.
Their tactics launched an anti-establishment GOP insurgency that cost some Republicans their seats as they were thought not to be vicious enough towards President Obama.
Republicans believed if they stuck together and made sure the president couldn’t brag about bipartisan support for any part of his agenda, they could make him pay a political price for failing to cure the partisan divisions in Washington.
The goal was to make President Obama’s agenda unpopular, rough him up, make him responsible for the partisan divisions in the country and hopefully drive the Democrats out of power.
McConnell warned his colleagues that they would have nothing to gain from working with the incoming president, that bipartisan cooperation would just make Obama look like a hero.
He also believed if Americans saw D.C. Politicians working together would make President Obama look like even more of a hero.
McConnell strongly believed if Americans thought D.C. seemed as nasty and messy as always, they would blame President Obama. So he worked hard to make it so.
Even though President Obama had just passed $300 billion worth of tax cuts (A National Republican Party’s dream) in his stimulus bill, almost all members of the National Republican Party would dare say something good about it.
As a result, The National Republican Party would punish any elected Republican who said anything good, shook hands, or even stood next to President Obama.
Arlen Specter (Then-Senator from Pennsylvania) voted with President Obama on a stimulus bill and Charlie Crist (Then Governor of Florida) hugged President Obama at a stimulus event that must not have gotten the “Party of No” memo because they paid a heavy political price for those actions.
These are the actions that led to the loss of control of the National Republican Party by its then leaders
Why A Broken National Republican Party Is Bad For America
The constant Obama fighting, violating political norms, and the strategy of refusing to govern for 8 years are proving to be a problem. In fact, it led to the election of Donald Trump.
The National Republican Party began electing Tea Party-style right-wing extremists to all branches of government, hell-bent on fighting President Obama and the Democrats.
They have demonstrated increasingly over time they have lost the ability to govern. They have slowly transformed into professional trolls.
Sadly opposing Democrats at every turn, even when they agree with them became the rule of the day. They are no longer a political party and their scorched earth policy may lead to a massive loss of power and influence in the country.
As a result, 2016 polls showed that 7 in 10 Republicans believed President Obama was not American and was born in Kenya.
They also choose to believe a wide range of conspiracy theories like President Obama was a threat to America, he gave free cell phones to welfare recipients, his employment data was rigged and he may even be a Muslim Terrorist.
It was reported at a Trump rally a member of Bikers 4 Trump believed Obama made it illegal for anyone who isn’t an immigrant or a minority to open a Dunkin’ Donuts.
This type of propaganda was publicized on Talk Radio, Cable News, and Social Media and fueled the rise of extreme right-wing candidates with no ability to actually govern to represent the Republican Party.
Moreover, anti-Washington Republicans helped fueled the worst of the anti-Obama conspiracies. The continuation of the Republican’s “Party of No” strategy continues to divide America and the party even more.
The National Republican Party’s continued irrational hatred of President Obama, the Democratic Party, and other groups fueled irrational expectations from the Republican voters.
The irrational hatred for President Obama and other groups is what the Republican voter got in Donald Trump. I will leave it up to you to decide if the election of Donald Trump was good or bad for America.
I will point out the National Republican Party lost its ability to govern or control the wishes of their voters. The anti-Washington Republican voters continue to support Tea Party, Qanon right-wing candidates.
For example, they have been fighting to destroy the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) with their “Repeal and Replace” mantra but fail to produce an alternative plan after over 10 years of trolling.
The pendulum looks to have swung too far right and also looks to be primed to swing left to give Democrats total control of the Government.
Conclusion
Even before President Obama was even sworn in the National Republican Party leaders decided scorched earth policy, the party of NO strategy was the way to go to regain the White House.
Unfortunately, that strategy whipped up their base furled by negative emotions and conspiracy theories. These irrational fears caused the Republican voters to request irrational demands from Republican elected officials.
As a result, extreme right-wing groups like the Tea Party and Qanon began to gain power and influence. Many were even elected to office.
They grew in power with an anti-Washington mantra and began to even oust Republican elected officials from office. Their power and influence began to change the National Republican Party.
Unfortunately, the party was more interested in resistance, trolling, and seems to have lost the ability to govern. Insults, tough talk, and trolling were more valued than negotiation and actually governing.
Republican elected officials seem to be punished for even suggesting negotiation or a plan to actually govern. They are not even required to present a plan to solve America’s problem by the average republican voter.
Resistances to any Democratic proposals, insults, and trolling are enough for an elected Republican official to gain or remain in office.
This all started with a hatred for President Obama and I suspect to eventually lead to Democratic Party rule with no healthy Republican Party resistance.
If that were to happen it would not be ideal. Personally, I would prefer total Democratic control of the country but it’s not about me.
I am aware enough to understand we need healthy opposition to enjoy the benefits of a healthy government. We need diverse ideas not just the ideas and will of just one group.
I believe the insurgency of the National Republican Party by right-wing extremists, conspiracy theorists, and trolls destroyed their ability to govern.
It all began with hatred for one of the most productive presidents in American history. Unfortunately, this is how President Obama broke the National Republican Party and it is bad for America.
