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My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.

2005-11-09

Not So Easily Dismissed

There are those who would be tempted, I think, to look at the defeats in New Jersey, Virginia, and California tonight (though the results of the latter are not official), coupled with the passage of Referendum C in Colorado last week, as not a big deal. Not a bellweather of anything to come--New Jersey has always been blue, Virginia has a Dem gov now, California is . ..well, California, and Colorado was under extraordinary circumstances.

So, many on the right will be tempted to not get very worked up about these results.

I am not one of them.

Such a string of defeats for conservatism--not necessarily the President or the GOP--are a very bad indicator, indeed. And for those of you tempted to dismiss these all so easily, ask yourself this:

is there any chance that a visit from President Bush to any of these states on behalf of candidates or issues three years ago would have had negligible effect on the outcome?

And yet the President goes for a late rally in Virginia last night, and the GOP loses there; not only that, but the President goes for a late rally after being persona non grata during most of the campaign. And, of course, in Colorado any attempt to prop up TABOR based on its restrictions on government spending would have been laughed out of state for the utter hypocricy of it all.

And you know what? This will continue unless the White House begins to show some life [see below] Leadership isn't just keeping your eye on the ball; sometimes you have to know where your opponent is and neutralize them, as well. And right now the White House is, in effect, trying to run with the national security ball without any blockers.

They look weak, which makes the party look weak, which makes the philosophical underpinnings looks wrong . . . .

which leads to defeat.
Posted by: Michael / 11/09/2005 12:11:00 AM

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