The GOP's really sticky wicket

I once observed that Mr. Shakespeare had in mind the likes of Fox News polemicist and GOP assassin Dick Morris when he wrote, "Never hung poison on a fouler toad." But, alas, though still a toad, Morris' modifier would now be "funnier," not fouler.

What prompts this literary revision? Morris' most recent ravings in The Hill (12/14), in which he referred to the eminently reasonable Barack Obama as, on the one hand, an "obstinate ideologue" of "socialist principles," who, on the other hand, having "[come] in from the cold of his extreme far-left positions," now "looks like a wimp."

This Bronx cheer from Morris was of course to be expected. It came on the heels of Charles Krauthammer's declaration of Obama as the undisputed winner of the tax deal, an explosive commentary that rattled many another commentator's window and soon shattered their instant, monolithic analysis of Obama's deal as a "capitulation."

Anyway, long-term and far-reaching analyst that he is, Morris then crowed that "Obama is checkmated as long as Republicans hold firm."

What the cheerleading Morris and likeminded extremists somehow neglected, though, is that some conscientious Republicans know how to read opinion polls; as a result they understand that the last thing most voters want is for President Obama to be "checkmated," each Democratic proposal gridlocked, every recent Congressional triumph reversed. The electorate has demanded a thoughtful, fast-moving chess game of offensive give and take, not some stagnant, predetermined checkmate.

Alaska's Democratic Senator Mark Begich has summarizedwhat Morris & Co. obstinately refuses to fathom: "[T]he pendulum moves very quickly right now," he told Politico. So quickly, it already seems that Mitch McConnell could have been referring to his own, discombobulated party when he quipped this week: "If they think it's bad now, wait 'til next year."

For there is, at least for the moment, an unmistakable unraveling process at work within the Grand Old Party. Its self-destructive miscalculations have abounded, most recently in opposition to the 9/11 responders bill and DADT and New Start. Said exiting Senator Chris Dodd, with more psychiatric accuracy than he may have intended: "It was crazy opposing Start -- crazy -- and [McConnell] shouldn't have done it."

Added Dodd, with prodding empathy: "I don't think Mitch is terribly comfortable with the tea party types" -- who are already transforming McConnell into a pitiable laughingstock. I don't think Mitch is terribly comfortable with that, either, nor will he remain at ease as he watches, say, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, Lisa Murkowski and Scott Brown drift ever more regularly into the Democratic column.

Reports Politico: McConnell's "claim that his 2012 objective was to unseat Obama may have appeased his party's right wing, but it has tested extremely poorly in Democratic-sponsored focus groups of independent voters.... Meanwhile, Obama has adopted a feel-good tone of bipartisan comity, appealing to independents turned off by the partisan rancor of the last two years."

My dear Mr. Morris, if anyone is checkmated, it's Republicans. They can burrow in obstructionism and thus concede 2012, or they can move in Obama's direction and concede 2012 -- get themselves picked off in primaries, that is, one reasonable Republican at a time.

Comments

[Chris]

They made some miscalculations, but if it's one thing the GOP excels at, it's saying whatever it takes to get elected.

[Anne Johnson]

I just hope I can see the next two years unfold and maybe I am asking a question that cannot be answered at this time, but such is my impatient nature. If the economy hasn't improved much by 2012, who will get the blame?

[Chris]

The fox news crowd and talk radio will blame obama.