Walter Russell Mead: America Spinning Its Wheels
[Walter Russell Mead is Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World. He blogs at The-American-Interest.com.]
The midterm elections find the two parties, and the United States, in an uncomfortable position. Even as it apparently moves toward a major victory, the Republican Party is divided between the Tea Party and the Establishment wings, and it is still haunted by the failure of the last era of Republican rule. The Democrats, who dreamed briefly in 2008-09 that the charisma and skills of Barack Obama would reverse the Republican tide that has been flowing since Richard Nixon discovered his Southern Strategy, face the sobering prospect that this might just be a center-right country after all. Could it be that Ronald Reagan still owns America and that Barack Obama was just borrowing it for a while?
The presidential elections of 2004 and 2008 were both fought out over the same issue. Think of America as a car: the Democrats offered a competent and smooth ride to Boston. Under the accident-prone George W. Bush, the Republicans offered a bumpy ride towards Dallas. In 2004 and 2008 Democrats attacked Republicans for crashing the car; Republicans attacked Democrats for wanting to take it in the wrong direction. In 2004, the Democratic argument did not convince. In 2008, with the economy melting down, it did. Barack Obama ran as a competent, smooth driver who would make the ride so pleasant and easy that the country wouldn’t much care where he was going. Republicans keep driving off the road, the new President argued, because the roads to Dallas are bad. Without a vigilant government to invest in infrastructure, superintend the road builders, subsidize ethanol, enforce speed limits and require safety belts, the road to Dallas is a series of disasters waiting to happen. The road to Boston, on the other hand, has been built by intelligent, credentialed technocrats. The tolls may be high, the renewable fuel has some problems, and the 35 mile an hour speed limit can be a little irksome, but the road is safe and the ride is smooth....
Read entire article at American Interest
The midterm elections find the two parties, and the United States, in an uncomfortable position. Even as it apparently moves toward a major victory, the Republican Party is divided between the Tea Party and the Establishment wings, and it is still haunted by the failure of the last era of Republican rule. The Democrats, who dreamed briefly in 2008-09 that the charisma and skills of Barack Obama would reverse the Republican tide that has been flowing since Richard Nixon discovered his Southern Strategy, face the sobering prospect that this might just be a center-right country after all. Could it be that Ronald Reagan still owns America and that Barack Obama was just borrowing it for a while?
The presidential elections of 2004 and 2008 were both fought out over the same issue. Think of America as a car: the Democrats offered a competent and smooth ride to Boston. Under the accident-prone George W. Bush, the Republicans offered a bumpy ride towards Dallas. In 2004 and 2008 Democrats attacked Republicans for crashing the car; Republicans attacked Democrats for wanting to take it in the wrong direction. In 2004, the Democratic argument did not convince. In 2008, with the economy melting down, it did. Barack Obama ran as a competent, smooth driver who would make the ride so pleasant and easy that the country wouldn’t much care where he was going. Republicans keep driving off the road, the new President argued, because the roads to Dallas are bad. Without a vigilant government to invest in infrastructure, superintend the road builders, subsidize ethanol, enforce speed limits and require safety belts, the road to Dallas is a series of disasters waiting to happen. The road to Boston, on the other hand, has been built by intelligent, credentialed technocrats. The tolls may be high, the renewable fuel has some problems, and the 35 mile an hour speed limit can be a little irksome, but the road is safe and the ride is smooth....