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Opinions/Editorials Title: Tea Party Take Over – The Answer To Obama’s Prayers With no end to the jobs drought in sight and an economy struggling to get air, life has not been particularly good this year for Barack Obama. So difficult are the challenges faced by the White House, had you asked me at the beginning of the week if I thought the president stood much of a chance to be re-elected, I would have argued that failing a massive and unlikely turn around in the jobs picture and a dramatic change in fortune in Afghanistan, we would be welcoming a Republican president into office come January 2013. But that was before Tuesday, September 14, 2010 – the day Sarah Palin may well have guaranteed that the Democrats will remain the majority party in the Senate and the day Obama began his comeback. As Charles Krauthammer correctly states in this morning’s Washington Post, the nomination of Christine O’Donnell in Delaware is a blatant violation of the Buckley Rule which cautions Republicans to always support the most conservative candidate who is electable. In a traditionally Democratic state like Delaware, Christine O’Donnell is highly unlikely to be elected while her defeated GOP opponent, Mike Castle, was not only electable in the general election, he was a virtual shoe-in. William Buckley would have been extremely displeased. Yes, Castle is a moderate Republican. But in a state like Delaware, a moderate Republican is pretty much as good as it can get if the goal is to send a GOPer to the U.S. Senate in the effort to regain the majority. However, O’Donnell is really not the issue. The issue revolves around national GOP leaders like Sarah Palin and Sen. Jim DeMint rallying behind the Delaware Tea Party candidate and, by doing so, playing the key roles in denying their own party a critical Senate seat. Even O’Donnell credited Pain’s endorsement and support as the key to her victory. We can, therefore, arrive at the conclusion that Sarah Palin may well turn out to be single-handedly responsible for costing her party the majority in the Senate – and all that comes with it. But the damage extends beyond the Senate. On the day after O’Donnell’s victory, establishment GOP candidates, such as Mitt Romney, fell all over one another in the rush to be the first to send a campaign contribution to the latest Tea Party star in order to establish their credibility with the extreme wing of their party. Who can blame them? If anything has become clear, it is that the Tea Party will play a major – if not the major role in choosing the next Republican candidate for president. While worshiping at the altar of the far right will be essential to locking up the nomination for any GOP hopeful, such fealty is likely to be a recipe for disaster when it comes to the general election. If you doubt this, just wait and see what happens in Delaware as it may well turn out to be the road map for the course that has been set for the coming presidential elections. As a Democrat, I can’t say that any of this displeases me. It does, however, surprise me. For as long as I can remember, the GOP has been the party of discipline and control. They know how to stay on message and keep the troops in line to produce their objectives. Yet, much to my amazement, we now see the Republicans behaving as if they were (shudder)… Democrats. And the big winner is likely to be the man who, just days ago, appeared destined to become the latest incarnation of Jimmy Carter. For this, Democrats will have Sarah Palin to thank. Life can be so strange sometimes.
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#1. To: Brian S (#0)
I tend to agree with this point of view. I believe Rand Paul will be one of the exceptions to this rule.
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