I didn’t know if the President would be able to get his health care measures through. But I do know one thing, republicans will lose their 2nd Presidential Election in a row at the rate they are going, and I’m fine with that. Of course if we had voted for Shirley Chisholm back in ‘72, we wouldn’t be having these problems today. Admire Palin all you want, Shirley was our cat-rimmed-glasses-wearing sister and she would have hooked us up. We only have ourselves to blame.
Chisholm would have been the one to take all the heat, she would have been the one struggling with critics of health care reform. It would have been glorious; a cadillac in front of the White House, fried chicken for everyone, and the music of Roy Ayers playing in the Oval Office. Hell, Jesse would have won in the ‘80s and Obama would have had much less pressure on him today.
Seriously, Obama’s greatest fault lied within his hesitation to seal the deal on his bill without the Republican House and Senate. Far from being this accused racist, he’s an assimilationist at heart. He was pitching a new HC measure as if it was a new car. And after months of negotiating HC like a used car, he now has a better idea. It’s to his advantage that the GOP is steered by a bunch of overly emotional idiots who pose no real threat to him whether health care passes or not. Unless something dramatic happens soon, the party that preaches moral fortitude and family values is on a fast track to lose again in 2012. And the 3 biggest reasons why are:
1: Two things that used to work for them in the past will now work against them; Stubborn & Stupid. Conservatives were the kings of compartmentalization. They were too happy to blurt out the most simple cause and/or solutions to the most complicated problems. Since ‘08 this great white wall of ignorance is crumbling. When it comes down to it, a good number of those who voted for Obama and are now claiming to be Tea Baggers, or just disenchanted because things haven’t improved real fast, are selling you some Kool-Aid. Most will return in ‘12 simply because the opposition won’t have anything.
2: The Socialist/Communist overkill. This is really the right’s dusting off of old rhetoric that they use every time they feel threatened by a black movement, from Marcus Garvey to MLK to the Panthers, down ‘til today. It’s wearing off. Many have deciphered the true meaning of these code words to mean nigger and simply smell the old hate.
3: If your strongest candidate doesn’t read newspapers, writes notes on the palm of her hand, has a spy satellite you call binoculars, and needs to micro-manage her oldest daughter, then you know they’re in trouble. Truth be told, the Republican Party actually has candidates who can possibly beat Obama. In fact there are 3 of them: 2 are black and one’s too old. Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and Dick Cheney. Powell won’t run because such a campaign would take it’s toll on his wife’s health. Rice wasn’t interested the last time around and a great segment of conservatives must swallow a lot of pride to back her because they need white to beat Obama in order to feel they’ve come back. More than age is chasing the former Vice President, as Cheney’s about-face on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell stands not to make him as strong a candidate with his party, even with his Obama-bashing. This is a white self-esteem issue in ways it wasn’t five years ago.
Michael Steel notwithstanding, the GOP couldn’t be more white in their sentiments today even if they hired Wayne Brady. The small victories that GOP supporters and their talk-radio grunts are hailing as a prelude to the 2010 midterm elections are, so far, little more than victorious political insurgent battles. The Democrats, labels and all, seem primed to win another war.
