Has Tom Schaller gone conservative?
Not to keep picking on the New York Times, but they had another slightly questionable Maryland reference in a story today about La. Gov. Bobby Jindal's response to Obama's speech Tuesday night.
Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana has been a rising star in the Republican Party, but his stock took a hit as he was roundly panned for his televised response to President Obama’s first speech to Congress on Tuesday night.Conservative commentators were among the harshest critics, calling Mr. Jindal’s delivery animatronic, his prose “cheesy” and his message — that federal spending is not the answer to the nation’s economic problems — uninspired.
Mr. Jindal, 37, the son of Indian immigrants, has been regarded as a potential presidential candidate in 2012 who would bring diversity and youth to a post-Obama Republican Party.
But the speech raised questions.
“This was the moment for him to seize the mantle with new ideas, new direction, and lay the groundwork for himself as a creative new thinker,” said Thomas Schaller, a political scientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. “He just used old platitudes and party clichés.”
Now, the story didn't exactly say that Tom is one of those conservative commentators, but you might be forgiven for coming away with that impression. However, I can assure you that the author of Whistling Past Dixie: How Democrats Can Win Without The South is many things, but conservative is not one of them.
Comments
Tom who?
Posted by: AnotherWatcher | February 27, 2009 10:38 AM
Is that a rhetorical question?
Posted by: Andy Green | February 27, 2009 10:39 AM
The current GOP strategy can be called ROAD KILL (Reject Obama And Democrats, Kindle Insurrection against Leftwing Lunatics). It's been a month since Obama took office, and bipartisanship reigns supreme in Washington.
Between the Republican rejection of the stimulus package and Bobby Jindal's pathetic performance on Tuesday night, the GOP seems to be stuck in toddler mode, saying "no" to everything. Talk of acting like the Taliban and starting an insurrection certainly helps set the tone of their "no, no, no" strategy.
Can this strategy work? Can being the party of "no" succeed? Is the GOP the party of:
* No ideas?
* No clue?
* No future?
Putting Bobby Jindal on television Tuesday night probably seemed like a great idea, until Tuesday night. Sarah Palin was the GOP politician of choice for the Republican response, but for reasons I can't fathom, the GOP chose to let its most magnetic master of public speaking stay home. Silly GOP.
Then rejecting spending, stimulus money, and anything else coming out of the Democrat caucus just adds fuel to the fire of disbelief that this was once the party of Reagan. Stupid GOP.
Basically, for the GOP to succeed, Obama and the Democratic Congress have to fail, which means the economy has to continue to tank. Imagine trying to explain that to your children or constituents:
We voted against those evil Democratic policies because we knew they wouldn't work. We didn't have any ideas of our own, so here we are, in 2010 (or 2012), with nothing to offer but mastery of saying the word "no".
Of course, if the economy does improve, if even some of Obama's policies and Democrats' legislation do help, then the GOP is in an even tougher spot. They have to explain how their lack of ideas is better than ideas that did work.
Unfortunately, there's not much time for the GOP. Whatever the GOP is going to do, it has to do it soon. Otherwise they'll end up being a sideshow, but without the comic value of Sideshow Bob.
Posted by: Dave Snyder | February 27, 2009 2:16 PM