"Obamaist Manifesto"? Gosh, that sort of sounds familiar, doesn't it? Oh, wait, we are meant to conflate that term with the "Communist Manifesto" which was written by Karl Marx in 1848.
Now when you read Krauthammer's piece you are not meant to do any research, or any thinking, or to know what a monumental dumbass Krauthammer is for making such an absurd claim. Obama and his agenda an attempted Socialist or Communist takeover of our economy and society? Hardly, in fact, very, very far from it. But Krauthammer doesn't really care if you read his editorial, or if you think about it or that you may even be capable of critical thought... all he wants you to remember is the catch-phrase he has so proudly invented or borrowed from one of his wingnut buddies. Oh, snap! as the young folks would say, he got Obama with that one! Well, no, he didn't, but this is one of the opening volleys in the "War to Save Reaganism" which is a near cousin of Bill O'Reilly's "War to Save Christmas". The conservative and not-so-conservative rightwing of our country are badly frightened. People who are scared often do desperate and dangerous things. Some of the desperate and dangerous things they plan to do is to try to "take down" President Obama and torpedo his legislative agenda, the stimulus package and any and all changes in the status quo that he proposes. Because on their merits they are wrong? Nope, because if he succeeds the Republican Party is going to be in far, far, far worse trouble than it currently is. And it is in trouble. The Republican Party is trying to edge Senator Jim Bunning of South Kentucky out of the 2010 primary because they are afraid he is going to lose. Bunning, described by those who know him as a "loose cannon" has said that if they screw with him he is going to immediately resign and let the Democratic Governor appoint a Democrat to replace him and let the Republican Party choke on it. This is called "unity". But what is it that the GOP is so worried about? and why are they trashing FDR so much these days, saying that New Deal thing actually prolonged the Depression, contrary to what everyone thinks.
Because FDR and the New Deal came close to destroying the Republican Party. The Senate then had 96 members (pre-Alaska and Hawaii) and in the 1930 election the GOP held 48 seats, the Democrats held 47 and the Farmers Party held 1. Bipartisan as all get-out, eh? But then in the 1932 election that swept FDR into office he had long enough coattails to run the GOP down to 35 Senators and in 1934 their numbers fell to 25. Do the math and you can see that left the Democrats with 70 Senate seats. That is a very comfortable filibuster-proof majority. But wait, in the 1936 election only 17 Republican Senators were seated. 17 Republicans and 76 Democrats. Ouch. That is the historic scenario that the Republican stalwarts are having nightmares about. They are terrified that they screwed up so badly that it will take a generation, or more, before anyone trusts them again, and since the bias towards the Democratic Party becomes more extreme in younger voters, as Republican voters age the demographics of the electorate do not look promising.
So we are going to see a lot of mud and name slinging, a lot of anger and invective. It may be a bit like the death throes of a rabid mammoth. Interesting to watch, but dangerous to get too close to. There are going to be more rants like this, believe me. But with any luck the marginally deranged Senator Jim Bunning will make good on this threat to resign and Al Franken will have his Senate race in Minnesota confirmed and there will be 60 Democratic Senators. That will on the one hand be fun, but with great power comes great responsibility. I hope we can keep it together.
Arthur
Now when you read Krauthammer's piece you are not meant to do any research, or any thinking, or to know what a monumental dumbass Krauthammer is for making such an absurd claim. Obama and his agenda an attempted Socialist or Communist takeover of our economy and society? Hardly, in fact, very, very far from it. But Krauthammer doesn't really care if you read his editorial, or if you think about it or that you may even be capable of critical thought... all he wants you to remember is the catch-phrase he has so proudly invented or borrowed from one of his wingnut buddies. Oh, snap! as the young folks would say, he got Obama with that one! Well, no, he didn't, but this is one of the opening volleys in the "War to Save Reaganism" which is a near cousin of Bill O'Reilly's "War to Save Christmas". The conservative and not-so-conservative rightwing of our country are badly frightened. People who are scared often do desperate and dangerous things. Some of the desperate and dangerous things they plan to do is to try to "take down" President Obama and torpedo his legislative agenda, the stimulus package and any and all changes in the status quo that he proposes. Because on their merits they are wrong? Nope, because if he succeeds the Republican Party is going to be in far, far, far worse trouble than it currently is. And it is in trouble. The Republican Party is trying to edge Senator Jim Bunning of South Kentucky out of the 2010 primary because they are afraid he is going to lose. Bunning, described by those who know him as a "loose cannon" has said that if they screw with him he is going to immediately resign and let the Democratic Governor appoint a Democrat to replace him and let the Republican Party choke on it. This is called "unity". But what is it that the GOP is so worried about? and why are they trashing FDR so much these days, saying that New Deal thing actually prolonged the Depression, contrary to what everyone thinks.
Because FDR and the New Deal came close to destroying the Republican Party. The Senate then had 96 members (pre-Alaska and Hawaii) and in the 1930 election the GOP held 48 seats, the Democrats held 47 and the Farmers Party held 1. Bipartisan as all get-out, eh? But then in the 1932 election that swept FDR into office he had long enough coattails to run the GOP down to 35 Senators and in 1934 their numbers fell to 25. Do the math and you can see that left the Democrats with 70 Senate seats. That is a very comfortable filibuster-proof majority. But wait, in the 1936 election only 17 Republican Senators were seated. 17 Republicans and 76 Democrats. Ouch. That is the historic scenario that the Republican stalwarts are having nightmares about. They are terrified that they screwed up so badly that it will take a generation, or more, before anyone trusts them again, and since the bias towards the Democratic Party becomes more extreme in younger voters, as Republican voters age the demographics of the electorate do not look promising.
So we are going to see a lot of mud and name slinging, a lot of anger and invective. It may be a bit like the death throes of a rabid mammoth. Interesting to watch, but dangerous to get too close to. There are going to be more rants like this, believe me. But with any luck the marginally deranged Senator Jim Bunning will make good on this threat to resign and Al Franken will have his Senate race in Minnesota confirmed and there will be 60 Democratic Senators. That will on the one hand be fun, but with great power comes great responsibility. I hope we can keep it together.
Arthur
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