Beating back expectations

As I read the paper yesterday and watched the talking heads on radio and TV talk about what an Obama presidency will be like, I came to one conclusion. Obama’s worst problem right now might be the incredible expectations placed upon him. I am amazed at the love affair – not just by the media, but by friends, family, and colleagues. I guess I am a little bit more patient. I think people feel that by this time next year, the economy will have rebounded, our troops will come home, we will be protected from any future terror attacks, our health care system will drastically improve, our debt will be erased, and more. Obama is only one man and unfortunately, before he can go on with his own agenda, he has to start cleaning up the mess. However, I have many future posts where I will address what I want out of Obama and what I think will actually happen. However, I will focus this post on the current situation of the Republican party, what they need to do to fix it in my opinion, and the future of the party.

The Republican party is a mess. The Republicans not only suffered damaging blows to all areas of congress this election, they also did in 2006. If they don’t do something soon, they could be in big trouble by the 2010 elections. Right now there is a battle going on. There are three heads to the Republican dragon.

A) One head is the socially libertarian, fiscally conservative head. Popular by the wealthy, well educated Republicans, these types of Republicans rally around politicians like Rudy Giuliani, or Michael Bloomberg. This group has done very well in big city suburbs.
B) Head number 2 is the evangelical Christian head. Popular by the Baptists, and the Deep South, politicians like Mike Huckabee run this group. Less interested in financial issues, this group cares deeply about issues like gay marriage, and abortion. This group has done well in the South, and rural small towns all over America.
C) The third head is the neo-conservative military wing. This group is the Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld led group that believe fighting terror is the only issue that matters.

Obviously, Republican don’t just fall into three easy categories, but for the most part, most Republican friends I know do fall under one of those three categories. This is why George W. Bush was such a brilliant choice in 2000. He was born in Connecticut, educated at Yale, and Harvard and grew up with a silver spoon in each hand. His family came from privilege and he took advantage of that. However, he was not like his Yale brothers, he was a good ole’ country boy, and a born again Christian who preferred watching baseball and tending to his ranch rather than discussing Noam Chomsky’s latest essay Kenya’s economic crisis. He also showed very quickly that he was pro-military, and heavily boosted the military budget and engaged in the “war on terror”. The real question for me is, what direction will the Republicans go? I think we will have a pretty good idea after they name their new Republican National Committee Chair in a couple of months. In 1992, Democrats won the presidency, and had control of both houses of congress (sound familiar); the Republicans were in turmoil, and their future looked dim. Then in 1994, the Democrats, with brand new House leader Newt Gingrich came out with their Contract for America where they succinctly laid out their vision for America. The Republicans were unified, motivated, and ultimately they were successful because in 1994, they recaptured Congress. I would look for the GOP to have Contract for America #2 to come out about this time a year from now. In the mean time, the Republicans will have to do an image make-over. They have to move beyond being the party of old, white men. I would look for non-white politicians, like Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal, to have a place. I would look for women like Olympia Snowe of Maine to become new leaders of the party. The reality is America is becoming more diverse, not less diverse but Republicans have been slow to realize that. Why are there no Hispanic Republican leaders? That will change and change soon. Why are there no Asian-American Republican leaders? That will change and change soon. Who are the young, Republican leaders? (I am thinking of people under 45.)