Another Reason Elections Matter

President Obama has not worked very hard to explain his policy on drone assassinations. By neither denying nor confirming the practice, he has maintained the fiction that they are not really happening; the policy has become one of those open secrets that characterize the worst dictatorships.


image from "The Excavator"

But, as the New York Times reports today, the specter of someone else killing people arbitrarily apparently made the administration uncomfortable enough to take the whole thing more seriously. Scott Shane writes:

The attempt to write a formal rule book for targeted killing began last summer after news reports on the drone program, started under President George W. Bush and expanded by Mr. Obama, revealed some details of the president’s role in the shifting procedures for compiling “kill lists” and approving strikes. Though national security officials insist that the process is meticulous and lawful, the president and top aides believe it should be institutionalized, a course of action that seemed particularly urgent when it appeared that Mitt Romney might win the presidency.

In other words, having too much power yourself seems like a good idea; giving that much clout to another seems scary.

This is why regular changes of power are so  important. Obama and his people needed to be a little jittery, and they still ought to be even after the election.

image from "Stirring Trouble Internationally"

Republican Laggers

If you still don’t understand why the Republican Party lost the election, here’s some more information:

First, many party functionaries, including Mitt himself, are angry at New Jersey governor Chris Christie for being overly civil to President Obama when the president toured areas ravaged by Hurricane Sandy. People want to know why Christie had to embrace Obama, why he had to fly in Marine One, why he had to praise the president’s efforts right when the campaign was coming to a climax.

In other words, GOP-sters can’t understand why the governor would waste his time governing during a crisis when there was important work to do in winning an election. What’s the point in expending all that effort if it does not lead to scoring points in the polls.

This cynical calculation, promoted by jerks like Mitch McConnell of Tennessee and Karl Rove, lost the election for the Republicans and hamper progress in serious matters in need of attention from the federal government. Ever since 2000, the Republican Party establishment has operated on the assumption that getting into office is far more important than doing any good once there, and people are sick of it. Memories of the political hucksterism and profound disconnect of the Bush Administration’s response to Katrina (“heckuva job Brownie”) did as much to cost the election as Christie’s hugs.

Second, Grover Norquist continues to insist that peoplewill refuse to raise taxes at all because that’s what Republicans do, even as members of the party have finally come around to the position that avoiding fiscal collapse is more important than electioneering. He is immune to all empirical evidence, and demands ideological consistency in the face of disaster. Better to fiddle to the party tune and let the city burn. Even that bastion of socialism, Forbes magazine, has condemned Norquist's tactics as "blackmail" and "extortion," and has labeled him that deadliest of pariahs, a "special interest."

It's time for the GOP to jettison this nonsense and return to efforts to govern the country.

What has Changed?

If we are lucky, last week's election will change the political landscape not so much in which policies are adopted, but in the way we talk about government. The Republican Party leadership says it feels chastened, and that its basic approach needs to change. Tea Party attacks, the new statements say, cost the election and led to an embarrassing experience on Tuesday.



Perhaps most heartening is the repudiation of Karl Rove's cynical attempts to manipulate the system. After years of doing nothing but trying to suppress minority voting and issuing Orwellian untruths, Rove has been exposed as a liar and a rogue, who actually needs Fox News anchors to clue him in on reality. His Super PAC's and political gaming failed in this election, when President Obama and the Democrats should have been vulnerable to a whupping.

Now, maybe we can talk about actual policy and engage in meaningful debates. Having lost in every demographic other than aging white men, GOP strategists are suggesting that maybe the party should try something constructive, like passing immigration reform, bagging the Christian-hypocrite position on abortion, and applying sound conservative economic thinking rather than bizarre litmus tests like Grover Norquist's. That kind of thinking would result in a reinvigorated Republican Party, and that could only be good for American politics.

We're not out of the woods, Norquist, Rove and that other cynical stooge, Mitch McConnell, are still trying to defend their old practices. If more progressive and moderate Republicans -- or even conservative ones like Boehner -- succumb to this thinking, we will continue to suffer from political silliness that may prevent serious action on environmental, social and economic issues. The rest of us can't fight this battle; it has to be waged with the party itself, and I am rooting for the good guys, even if I am not a member (of any party.)