June 2, 2006
President Bush's bid to amend the Constitution to ban gay marriage is as transparent as Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's attempt at a constitutional amendment against flag burning. They're both pandering to the conservative base of the Republican Party but it may be too little too late.
I've observed politics for decades now and I don't recall a time when the Republican Party has been more fragmented. The recent flap over illegal immigration, which should have unified the party, merely served to highlight the differences between true conservatives and imposters, creating a chasm large enough to drive an elephant through.
The question is: Where does the party go from here?
For starters, barring some miracle, Bill Frist's political career is over. It's too bad, too. He's a great guy and someone I always held forth as getting into politics for the right reason. However, in the eleventh hour of his senate career, when the spotlight of scrutiny was upon him, he chose the political way out of a difficult problem rather than the principled way out. His mind was focused on proving that he was a good problem solver and conciliator rather than doing what was right for his country. In the end, Bill Frist allowed ambition to blind him and it's a shame.
As for President Bush, he's now seen by many on the campaign trail as the kiss of death. Historically low approval ratings make him a liability rather than an asset in most parts of the country, especially California where Bush's approval numbers are only four points away from being as low as Richard Nixon's just before he resigned. Unlike Nixon, the Bush administration still has over 2 years left and it is now a question of how effective he can be.
And it's not just the illegal immigration issue. It's the federal spending which has continued to rise as if Bill Clinton were still in office. It's the exit strategy for the Iraq War, which seems to have none. It's the overall feeling by conservatives that we were snookered.
We all thought we would win the peace in Iraq just like we won the war – quickly and decisively. Instead, we seem to be flailing about. Not that there hasn't been progress. There has. It's just the timidity with which we seem to be prosecuting the peace, unlike the decisiveness we demonstrated on the front end.
The tax cuts are great and a stimulated economy is wonderful but neither mean a great deal if we're outstripping the prosperity in federal spending. I really thought this president would banish the word “entitlement” from the Washington lexicon. Instead, he seems to have raised it to a new art form.
All of this leaves the door wide open for that political juggernaut Hillary Clinton. There doesn't seem to be anyone on the horizon that can stop her.
Political strategist Dick Morris says the only person to beat Hillary is Rudy Giuliani. There's only one problem with Morris' match-up. Ironically, Giuliani will have a better chance of winning the general election than he will shoring up the Republican nomination. If Giuliani, a social liberal, manages to win the nomination, that will speak volumes about the GOP. It will mean the Republican Party has lost its soul, its vision, its reason for being.
The conservatives must take back the Republican Party in order to survive. Reagan didn't win and govern by pandering. He won on ideas and he governed by principles. This modern-day modus operandi of capitulating on the big issues while throwing the conservative base bones just ain't gonna cut it.