Us Elections: How Republican Party got dropped off a Steep Cliff

by Philip Fernando in Los Angeles for Sri Lanka Guardian

(November 05, Los Angeles, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Historic Barack Obama victory on November 4th demonstrated that the Republicans just got dropped off a steep cliff like the conservatives in Sri Lanka under Ranil Wickremesinghe leadership. For eight years, George Bush manipulated party rules to get cronies to key posts. Rampant anti-intellectualism reigned. Bush doctrine of shoot first and then think infested the party bosses. Assuming that invaders will be greeted like liberators of Iraq turned out to be a pipe dream. The final nail in the coffin came when John McCain nominated the utterly ill-prepared Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.

Like the Wickremesinghe chant against the president in Sri Lanka, the Republicans warned that Obama would bring out the augur in every man, woman and child. The notion that conservatism has to celebrate ideas rather than egotistical individuals fell by the way side. They forgot that leaders like Eisenhower, Theodore Roosevelt, Reagan and Clinton had an immense faith in the power of ideas. Obama was the embodiment of that. But Bush, Cheney and McCain followed the more populist notion that giving in to Evangelical dictates was the way to go. Those with ideas were always suspect. They debunked everyone who had them. Sarah Palin and George Bush were classic examples of those prejudices.

America’s reputed conservative analyst David Brooks found that Sarah Palin, a naturally talented person, was "absolutely not" ready to be president or vice president. He explained, "The more I follow politicians, the more I think experience matters, the ability to have a template of things in your mind that you can refer to on the spot, because believe me, once in office there's no time to think or make decisions."

It was clear that Obama had tremendous powers of social perception. It was reported how Obama and David exchanged notes about something written by David in his column. He had complained that the Republican congress was spending too much money. He attacked the Democrats to make myself feel better stated David. He had an email from Obama saying, 'David, if you wanna attack us, fine, but you're only throwing in those sentences to make yourself feel better.' And it was a perfect description of what was going through David’s mind. There are hundreds of similar stories about Obama And everybody who knows Obama have these stories to tell about his capacity for social perception.

Much to the chagrin of the Republicans, David recently predicted an Obama victory by nine points. He said that even though Obama may have been a mediocre senator, he had surrounded himself with the most impressive people in the Democratic Party. The key to Obama’s success is that he had people of outstanding quality to advice him-who everyone would want to surround themselves with. He conducted a near flawless election campaign because the Obama team was uniquely qualified

Like Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Republican leaders have driven away people who constituted the hard core of the party. The exodus had many causes. The tacticians decided to base their campaign on a form of social class-warfare. Thousands of television and talk radio jock have debunked people with ideas. Today there is a tug-of-war between the wholesome Joe Six-packs in heartland America and the elitist over-secularized denizens living in the coastal areas. This year things came to a standoff. What Obama had to do was to make everyone feel that they were comfortable like when enjoying a Sunday afternoon in a theme park. Republicans described it very differently, it is the harshness of the hood-the derogative word for Black neighborhoods. Rest is history. The Americans threw the Republican Party them off the cliff.

(Sri Lankna Journalist Philip Fernando is the author of "Obama Feasting on Freedom.)
- Sri Lanka Guardian