That Vision Thing
With post-debate poll numbers moving positively for Hillary Clinton, it is clear that congressional Democrats should waste no time in augmenting efforts to wage the battle for control of Congress. During her campaign for president, Hillery has emphasized her ability to work with Congress to "get things done." Could putting another Democrat in the White House spell the end of the hyper-partisan atmosphere that has crippled Washington for the past eight years, or would an electoral victory for Ms. Clinton be seen by Republicans as a clarion call to resurrect the "government by obstruction" regime that right-wing Tea Party conservatives forced on the American people during the Obama administration.
As envisioned by Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell in 2008, the GOP response to the election of Barack Obama would be to march in lockstep to the political right. The Republican strategy of strangling legislation in its infancy, blocking judicial appointments, cutting spending on infrastructure, education and the environment has been proven to be a failure. The tactic by GOP leaders to frustrate Obama's presidential agenda so it can later claim that "nothing gets done in Washington," has resulted in voter disgust, the ascendance of Donald Trump and the possible dissolution of the Republican Party.
Now House speaker Paul Ryan and other institutional Republican leaders are scrambling to prevent the destruction of their party in what could be a Democratic landslide in the making. It will be the task of the members of the old guard to build something from the ashes. If they succeed, recovering from the trauma of a Clinton victory may make a resurrected GOP more pliable, more open to compromise, more interested in actually legislating...but don't bet on it. The likelihood of a succession to a new Grand Old Party will rest on the magnitude of a Democratic win and the Republicans' ability to forsake the suicidal rule of Tea Party hardliners.
Even if a batch of reformed Republicans begin to embrace the spirit of bipartisanship, there will still be no real incentive for them to let the Democrats demonstrate their ability to govern. The idea of a woman as president will be just as odious to many as is the idea of a black president. Hillary may end up stymied, just as surely as Mr. Obama was, no matter how many "friends" she has on Capitol Hill.
It should be noted that four years passes very quickly. Given the truly bizarre nature of the 2016 election, one has to wonder if the American electorate will ever really conjure a workable vision of the future. 2020 may turn out to be just another example of its political myopia.
As envisioned by Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell in 2008, the GOP response to the election of Barack Obama would be to march in lockstep to the political right. The Republican strategy of strangling legislation in its infancy, blocking judicial appointments, cutting spending on infrastructure, education and the environment has been proven to be a failure. The tactic by GOP leaders to frustrate Obama's presidential agenda so it can later claim that "nothing gets done in Washington," has resulted in voter disgust, the ascendance of Donald Trump and the possible dissolution of the Republican Party.
Now House speaker Paul Ryan and other institutional Republican leaders are scrambling to prevent the destruction of their party in what could be a Democratic landslide in the making. It will be the task of the members of the old guard to build something from the ashes. If they succeed, recovering from the trauma of a Clinton victory may make a resurrected GOP more pliable, more open to compromise, more interested in actually legislating...but don't bet on it. The likelihood of a succession to a new Grand Old Party will rest on the magnitude of a Democratic win and the Republicans' ability to forsake the suicidal rule of Tea Party hardliners.
Even if a batch of reformed Republicans begin to embrace the spirit of bipartisanship, there will still be no real incentive for them to let the Democrats demonstrate their ability to govern. The idea of a woman as president will be just as odious to many as is the idea of a black president. Hillary may end up stymied, just as surely as Mr. Obama was, no matter how many "friends" she has on Capitol Hill.
It should be noted that four years passes very quickly. Given the truly bizarre nature of the 2016 election, one has to wonder if the American electorate will ever really conjure a workable vision of the future. 2020 may turn out to be just another example of its political myopia.
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