Wow. I would have thought that the GOP had hit rock-bottom, but that was before I listened to Gov. Bobby Jindal’s response to the State of the Union Address which it was in all except name today. I had read the rousing criticism to Jindal’s speech, but I figured it was exaggeration.
Let me back up a bit. I have been mulling over the GOP for the past…ten years or so. First of all, I am trying to get a picture of John McCain from Wiki, and it keeps freezing. I can get other people, but not him. What does it mean? On the fourth try, I finally got the pic.
Back to my point. The GOP has relentlessly pushed the idea of tax cuts for the rich and personal responsibility for the poor over the years. They have advocated the abolishment of government, unless it has to do with a woman’s body or who can get married. Then, they want government to be as big as possible. They championed free market to the point where our economy is crumbling. and they were soundly defeated in the 2008 elections.
The majority of the American people only want bipartisanship from the Republicans because they support President Obama and his liberal policies. The same majority don’t trust the Republicans to do the right thing. In fact, most American people, save Republicans, don’t trust the Republicans at all. These same Americans are in love with President Obama and desperately want him to succeed in his policies, in part, because it’s good for the country.
You would think with these facts at their fingertips, the Republicans would be eager to work with the new prez in getting things done. However, this is not the case. In part, this is because most of the Republicans left in Congress are really right-wing. In addition, they are mostly male, mostly white, mostly from the south, and mostly older. Take a look:
In the top row, from left to right, we have Richard Shelby, U.S. Senator from Alabama, 74 years old; Pete Sessions, U.S. Representative from Texas, 53 years old; Mitch McConnell, U.S. Senator from Kentucky, Minority Leader, 67 years old.
In the bottom row, from left to right, we have, Lindsey Graham, U.S. Senator from South Carolina, 53 years old; Mike Pence, U.S. Representative from Indiana, and the spring chicken at 49 years old; lastly, but not leastly, erstwhile prez (hee hee), John McCain, U.S. Senator from Arizona, 72 years old.
Not only are their ideas tired and worn out, so are their members! In a society with increasing diversity, and an increasing acceptance of such, is it any wonder that we are dismissing such a homogenous group? Their policies are in synch, and so are their, um, socioeconomic factors. That’s not quite the word I am looking for, but it’ll do.
They look out of touch, out of step, and downright recalcitrant. Dimly, they know that they are losing favor with the American people. I think they sort of wrote off this election while keeping their eye on 2012. To that end, these three men’s names were bandied about as potential candidates for said election.
They are, again from left to right, Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachussetts, 61 years old; Mike Huckabee, former governor of Alabama, 53 years old; and a person near to me, but not dear to me, Tim Pawlenty, governor of, sigh, Minnesota, a mere 48 years old.
Hm. Except for Mitt Romney being a Mormon, and Tim Pawlenty being on the youngish side and not from the south, these guys look a lot like the other guys. What to do? The GOP knew that this would not do. They needed to show off their diversity! What diversity, you might ask yourself. They had their National Convention in Minnesota, for god’s sake. ‘Tis true, we are pigmentally-challenged here. The GOP is nothing if not resourceful, however. They DO have a little bit diversity, so now, I present to you the three NEW faces of the Grand Old Party.
You know the drill by now. From left to right. First up, Sarah Palin, purported governor of Alaska (could have fooled me), 45 years old; Michael Steele, head of the Republican National Party, the oldster at 50; Piyush “Bobby” Jindal, governor of Louisiana, 37 years old (he’s younger than I am by months).
It’s a veritably cornucopia when it comes diversity, if you are solely focusing on the difference in skin color or genitalia. As Rachel said last night, I don’t really want to think about the difference in color of genitalia, thank you very much. Hilarity aside, the faces may be updated and re-colored, but the ideas are the same old, same old. Palin is more religious right than W. if that’s possible, and equally incompetent. She is highly paranoid, always whining about the ‘elite media’ being out to get her. She thinks that if she had been let loose on the unsuspecting public, she would have fared much better in public perception. Steele talks about a need for a hip-hop makeover. He goes on to say that he’s going to implement an off-the-hook pr offensive…ok, he just lost me. Despite his attempts to be cool, circa 1991, he, incredibly, states on national television that the government has never created a job. As for Jindal, well, here we are full circle to where I started this essay.
Jindal has been touted as the Republican answer to Obama. Last night, he was the literal answer to Obama–in the context of dueling speeches. By most accounts, Jindal is bright (of course he is–he’s Indian!), genuine, and willing to reach across the aisle. Well, I don’t know if that’s true from his past, though the reading I have done doesn’t support such a supposition. However, in the past few weeks, he’s made a name for himself for the wrong reasons–political grandstanding. He has threatened to turn down millions of federal aid for the unemployed citizens of his state (Louisiana, still not even half-recovered from the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina) for mumbo-jumbo reasons.
Finally, he gave the response to President Obama’s State of the Union Address (come on! Let’s call it what it was) last night, and well, it was quite possibly the worst speech I have ever heard. This includes W. speeches because I expect more from Jindal than from W. Hell, I expect more from my ten-year old niece than I did from W. when it came to speaking, but that’s neither here nor there. Let’s put aside the content for a minute and focus on the tone.
I think he was trying for warm and personable. He came off as condescending and paternalistic in places. He looked uncomfortable; he sounded uncomfortable; and he exuded something other than positivity.
As to the content, he might be the shiny new face of the GOP, but he was recycling the old ideas. I laughed in so many places, and I yelled back at him. When he uses the catastrophic government response to Katrina (which, if you remember correctly, was NOT under President Obama’s watch) to justify no intervention by government at all. He touts tax cuts as a way to ‘grow’ the economy (I hate the use of grow in that context), even though that mind set has, over the last eight years, ‘grown’ our economy right into the ground. He repeats the canard about the ‘magical light rail’ going from Disneyland to Nevada, WHICH IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE.
In short, he is regurgitating the same old crap that the GOP has been spouting for the last eight-plus years. Longer, really, as it started with Reagan, but it really intensified under W. I love Rachel being literally speechless in response to Jindal’s response, not once, but twice. Well, speechless the first time, anyway. Even Tweety (Chris Matthews) gets in on the act, waxing apoplectic as only he can. By the way, Rachel touches on much of what I am bringing up here. You would do well to watch this whole episode of her show. I love watching her face as she’s listening to Jindal talk.
There really isn’t more to say about the subject. Tomorrow, if I feel like it, I might give the GOP hints on how to find their way out of the wilderness, but here’s a hint–it doesn’t involve going backwards in terms of policies. I don’t think they’ll listen, however, as they prefer only to refurbish their image (Jindal, Steele, Palin) rather than upgrade the substance. Hey, good luck with that.
In salute to Chairman Steele and his attempt to create a hip-hop makeover for his party, I give to you, Naughty By Nature’s OPP. Just substitute GOP for OPP. Are you down with GOP?
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