Perspective

Crossposted at The Rockefeller Republican

 

If you spend any time reading popular right wing blogs these days it is easy to get a sense of doom and gloom about the near future of the Republican Party. But it really isn’t that bad. We are only 4 years removed from owning the White House, the Senate and Congress. Granted it hurts now because we have lost those, but not by a historic amount. The vote was 52%-46%. And let’s not forget the nation still considers itself center-right.

When we look beyond the presidential to local election results we see that many of the newly elected congressional members while democrat, would probably be better described as blue dogs, who were elected in essentially conservative districts. Did the nation really go through a sea change, or was it just a.) Fed up with Bush and b.) Scared to death of the financial collapse?

Republicans can actually take some comfort in the way Obama ran for office and is beginning to (almost) govern. He ran as someone who would cut taxes and limit wasteful spending. Now, as he fleshes out his staff, he is filling it with economic moderates who seem to support essentially pro-growth measures. The Democrats may have won, but they appear to have stolen the playbook. Conservative principles have been so successful that have been co-opted.

The Republicans certainly need some time to regroup and get back on their feet electorally, but I would be surprised if this was anything more than the normal ebb and flow between left and right in a basically center nation.