Why is the GOP Establishment Choking?
Thou shalt read Jennifer Rubin's open letter to Republican leaders, including some Ricochet faves. It's a piercing cri de coeur, but it also helps beg a huge question. Why has the GOP establishment been so passive and ineffective this election cycle?
This week I take a stab at an answer: the politics of prosperity is an inadequate response to the present moment, to Obama's presidency, and to the public imagination in an age such as ours. It should be obvious that this is not an 'attack on free enterprise' but a critique of a social theory implicit in a campaign strategy.
Prosperity is wonderful, but it is subsidiary to liberty and derivative of it. RedState's Dan McLaughlin recently made an arresting, outside-the-box argument that the GOP establishment is composed of those (in whatever class, of whatever degree of party power) "who have thrown in the towel" on government spending. But we get more explanatory power from a view -- which I think is borne out by the facts -- that the establishment is composed of leading party figures who believe prosperity ought to be the brand promise of the GOP for two big reasons: first, because prosperity is the root promise of America; second, because Republicans can't take and keep power with a different pitch.
It seems to me that both those justifications are based on mistaken premises and lead to unfortunate formulations, even from some of the GOP's most impressive and unsinkable men. (A right to rise, Paul Ryan? Really?) The lesson is not to jettison prosperity or turn against economic dynamism but to advance a campaign narrative that puts those things into their proper perspective -- not simply for logical reasons, but because, as Tocqueville helped us to understand, only certain grand themes fully capture the public political imagination in what he called the democratic age. Alas, prosperity just isn't one of them -- however strongly many Americans prefer it to the alternative.
When party leaders grasp this, this race will really be off to the races. Until then, the establishment seems destined not to come through in the clutch.
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Mar '11
Re: Why is the GOP Establishment Choking?
I'm really sick of people like Rubin with their "please, save us from these stupid voters" meme. These people did their level best to cram a candidate no one wanted down our throat, and when we refused, now suddenly voters can't be trusted and "leaders" should impose another pick from the top. Rubin should go back to the Democratic Party.
Nov '11
Re: Why is the GOP Establishment Choking?
Chewing on this. In short, "Liberty" over "Prosperity?" But after all, liberty -- tied to limited government in the American conservative view -- is the prerequisite for prosperity. It's just taking another step further back to first principles.
May '10
Re: Why is the GOP Establishment Choking?
Jennifer Rubin is a nobody, and got that blog job because everyone else they called didn't want it.
Dec '10
Re: Why is the GOP Establishment Choking?
"Give me prosperity or give me death!" Wait, I don't think it went quite like that.
Mar '11
Re: Why is the GOP Establishment Choking?
I think this is a very insightful post, Mr. Poulos.
It is certainly true that "Prosperity is wonderful, but it is subsidiary to liberty and derivative of it." It turns out, though I hadn't thought of it before, it is also an excellent explanation of the "emptiness" many of us perceive in certain candidates (e.g., Romney) and the comparative excitement some of us feel for even an otherwise deeply flawed candidate (e.g., Gingrich). As you point out, connecting prosperity with broader themes of American values both allows a strong appeal to our political imagination and puts the emphasis where it belongs as a logical matter (on the cause, liberty, rather than the effect, prosperity).
That explains, in my personal case, why I was very pleased when Gingrich framed the big theme of the campaign he wanted to run against Obama as one about "American Exceptionalism" which, for Gingrich (per his latest book), is all about freedom. That ability to put prosperity in the context of freedom is one of the things, I think, that people found so appealing about Reagan as a candidate and communicator.
Edited on January 23, 2012 at 5:31pmAug '11
Re: Why is the GOP Establishment Choking?
Wow. Jennifer Rubin really hates Newt Gingrich doesn't she?
I would call it "becoming completely unhinged," but I would say that the GOP establishment has always been passive and ineffective. It's just that often the Democrat establishment are moreso.
Jul '10
Re: Why is the GOP Establishment Choking?
So her response to a growing number of voters rejecting the establishment candidate is to have the establishment exert even more pressure to force their candidate through? I guess since it works for Putin it should work here, too.
Edited on January 23, 2012 at 5:31pmMay '11
Re: Why is the GOP Establishment Choking?
Rubin is now trying to call Gingrich this year's McCain for being "another grouchy old man nominee". Who comes up with this nonsense?
The dishonesty that heretofore respectable conservative figures are now engaged in is stunning. I expected resistance. I did not expect a complete flight from principles.
Sep '10
Re: Why is the GOP Establishment Choking?
People who live exclusively on the coasts likely don't have much of a taste for a street fight which is what this election is going to become. They also appear to have forgotten how messy the peasantry can be when they get mad. I'd suggest a phone call to King George to see if he can quell the buffet fork wielding mobs.
Jennifer Rubin wants a Jack Webb election and instead she got the WWE.
May '10
Re: Why is the GOP Establishment Choking?
The established pundit class on the right is feeling like the neglected mistress right about now. "Gee, what good is whoring for you if you're not going to pay me the proper attention!?" The problem there is that they are whoring for Mitt and not us. And why pay attention to them in the first place?
This group of people spent the better part of the last year telling us what a disaster Mitt Romney was going to be. We need Paul, we need Mitch, we need Chris... we need anybody but Mitt! But when none of them stepped up, the voters still agreed with them on the "anybody" part. Now the pundits dislike the fact that the voters have more scruples than they do, they're not going back to Mitt with their tails between their legs.
Edited on January 23, 2012 at 5:47pmJul '10
Re: Why is the GOP Establishment Choking?
The GOP is in crisis because when the landmark legislation of the 111th Congress, ObamaCare, was passed they spent a week talking about how to work with the Democrats now that that was settled, how to tweak the edges and doodle little hearts above the i's. It's because these godless, ignorant, prostitute putzes have no brains and no souls. They lambaste Michelle Bachmann for a lack of legislative accomplishment under the worst Speaker in house history. All she did was rally and raise major funds for the 2010 Massacre! Those equine popes we read about in history did better work than Pelosi or these empty suits!
They don't represent us, they don't know us, they don't like us, they don't want to know us, just shut up and vote and quit yer whinin' they advise us soothingly.
There are NO unflawed candidates in this race. Romney has never been electable this cycle as any brain dead chainsaw massacre fan could told folks after a cursory read of the facts. The delivered wisdom of the GOP intelligentsia is an emission not even fit for fertilizer. It is toxic waste.
Plow it under and start over.
Jul '11
Re: Why is the GOP Establishment Choking?
The establishment is choking because they are eating the hopes and dreams of conservatives. Too bad for them we won't stop believing and sooner or later they will end up like the Roman politician that Mirthradites captured and killed by pouring molten gold down his throat.
Jul '10
Re: Why is the GOP Establishment Choking?
Jen really got herself worked up, didn't she?
Why has the GOP establishment been so passive and ineffective this election cycle?
Isn't the simplest answer that they don't care much for any of the candidates either?
Don't they take a quick look and say: "the kook, the robot, the gasbag, and the guy who won't sit next to your mom on a couch? These are the choices?"
You're right James, that prosperity isn't the end-all. The party should certainly try to craft a greater narrative about liberty, and party elites bear some of the blame.
Jul '11
Re: Why is the GOP Establishment Choking?
First, can someone define what the GOP establishment is?
Second, I am no Romney fan. I've never been able to warm to him and I don't find him that inspiring. And for all I know, Obama wouldn't have that hard a time against him. What's more, I've been pretty disgusted by Rubin's incessant vitriol against everyone but Romney. It's frequently seemed like she'd rather hit candidates than talk about issues.
All that said, can we stop demonizing people who have hesitation about Newt? Are the criticisms that he hasn't always been a reliable conservative unfounded? Are the worries about his personal stability unjustified? Are polls showing his favorable/unfavorable at 27/56 (FoxNews) not to be trusted, or obviously capable of being overcome? It's fine to make the case that Newt ought to be our nominee. It's not fine to call everyone who thinks otherwise an unconservative, establishment hack who's a sop for Romney. Has anyone ever really wanted Romney besides his campaign?
I don't know if blame is the right emotion here, but what I feel is deep disappointment and sadness at...
Jul '11
Re: Why is the GOP Establishment Choking?
...our party's inability to nominate a consistent, credentialed conservative who can simultaneously appeal to the independents and moderates who, at least the conventional wisdom goes, will be necessary to win this election (and if that conventional wisdom is wrong, can somebody, for once, explain why, rather than just presuming it?). I think Christie, Ryan, Daniels, Jindal and perhaps some others were folks who could have fit that bill. And I'm almost shocked that, at such a crucial time for everything that we conservatives hold dear, none of them answered the call to run.
It's clear that we may have to make the best out of a bad situation. But it's not out of bounds to recognize that what we have is just that - a bad situation.
Dec '10
Re: Why is the GOP Establishment Choking?
There is a lot of Gingrich Derangement Syndrome going around.
In addition, the clothes are off the conservative 'pundints,' many of whom are just as rude towards, and contemptuous of, people who disagree with them as are the chattering classes on the left.
The only way that 'their' candidate can get out of this mess is to step behind the curtain, reinvent himself and then emerge in a cloud of distracting smoke which he can then blow into any orifices he can find.
But they don't even get that. Just as Romney won't admit that Romneycare, or the dog, was a mistake, Ann Coulter et. al, won't admit that he needs a makeover, because to do so would acknowledge that he's been weak all along.
PS--You could sit any of the candidates next to my mother. None of them would last very long.
Aug '10
Re: Why is the GOP Establishment Choking?
Go Sisyphus !!
They all talked about the Tea Party not having a leader, well it shows now.
And the GOP has a leader named Reince Preibus ? WTF ???
Michael Steele was a real winner too--- argghh.
Their message is going to be US v Them. If prosperity is too obtuse for the voters, and their IQ doesn't need to be any higher than what gets them to the polls, then we better dumb it down and go with it. Spend V Save ? Win V Lose ? Love V Hate ? Cheerios V Special K ??? Something has to be done.
Reince, how do you even pronounce that. I instinctively distrust anyone who offers to help me from the Washington DC platform. That's what we need to get out. That and something about handing your kids a chance to succeed as a parent rather than a donor.
May '10
Re: Why is the GOP Establishment Choking?
To qualify you must:
- Must either hold state-wide or federal elective office or work for a major media outlet
- You, your spouse or your children will have attended an Ivy League school
- If you kicked the bucket in the next hour it would hit the AP wire with a 500-word pre-written obituary.
Edited on January 23, 2012 at 6:25pmJun '11
Re: Why is the GOP Establishment Choking?
How many members of the GOP Establishment does it take to change a light bulb?
Two. One to call the electrician and the other to make the martinis.
Re: Why is the GOP Establishment Choking?
I do think Romney could fairly easily shift gears and relaunch with a new message. Happens all the time in campaigns, doesn't it? Look at how quickly Newt pivoted to Bain and away (if incompletely) again. Mitt can probably effectively portray Obama as an executive gone wild. Romney's best core promise is that he's a modest executive: cautious, prudent, discerning, precise, attentive, focused -- 'unlike the president', etc...