When the results of the 2008 Elections in the United States were superimposed on the TV screens around the world, a tsunami of doomsday assessments for the Republican Party's survival was made by liberal pundits.
It was seen as if it was the dawning of a new day in American Politics, unless you happened to be watching at a results party at the University of Sydney, where it was the middle of Wednesday afternoon and not Tuesday night.
The spokespersons for the Republican Party (AKA Faux News?) were quiet and subdued but, in the best of the "Cool Hand Luke" attitude, not willing to admit defeat. Liberal Pundits wondered that the conservatives seemed to think that analogies about calling the coroner's office were premature. The conservatives seemed to prefer analogies that evoked visions of a miraculous effort at a Hospital Emergency Room followed by a textbook perfect recovery.
Liberal pundits put their hats over their hearts and hummed a funeral dirge. The liberal pundit attitude was that soon after the Inauguration of the new President, the Republican Party "will have her neck wrung like a chicken."
Now, just twenty two months later, the Republican Party's attitude is that in the fall the chickens will come home to roost.
What have the Republicans done to achieve this "back from the dead" reversal of fortunes?
In a country where there is now a constant 24 hours news cycle and instant analysis is always available on elections night news programs just minutes after the polls close, where is the trend-spotting journalism covering the resurrection of the Republican Party's chances for survival?
The Fashion and Style sections have highly trained and seasoned trend spotters on the vigil for new fads and cultural phenomenon, so why aren't the political pundits explaining just how this amazing turnabout happened?
Isn't the fact that now the "conventional wisdom in Washington" expects big Republican gains in both the House and Senate a major trend-spotting story?
Where are the ubiquitous "man in the field" reports from correspondents telling the anchor person in New York City what "the people" are thinking and feeling as they withdraw their support for President Obama? Where is the infallible "on the scene" journalist who can explain all the subtleties of how Americans think and feel when the biggest comeback story in politics is unfolding?
Do the people, who are seeing the banks repossess their homes this year, think that the Republicans this fall are comparable to the Brits who refused to think of surrender during the Battle of Britain?
Are the folks who need an extension of their unemployment benefits seeing the Republicans as working class heroes conducting a sit-down strike in Washington? Has someone proclaimed the "Party of No" as the modern day embodiment of the spirit of Joe Hill and worthy of the union members' votes?
Are the Republicans being perceived, by the shop owner on Main Street, as modern day Joe McCarthys who are alone in their efforts to face the peril of omni-present communists?
Where are the trend-spotting specialists when America needs them most? Oh, yeah, they are at Ground Zero covering a religious controversy.
It seems that Republicans have to constantly remind America that if Native Americans wanted to hold a Ghost Dance ceremony at Ground Zero, they can't because the Bureau of Indian Affairs didn't succumb to partisan political pressure and sanction any heathen activity in the United States. The Ghost Dance has been outlawed. What part of "illegal" don't the Democrats understand? "Naked Savages have rights too!," you say? Maybe, but not at Ground Zero.
If the Great White Father in Washington wants to approve building a railroad right-of-way across an Indian burial ground, that's OK because the future of the nation rides on the success of the iron horse. Everybody understands that.
1 | 2
