Republicans outraged Obama usurped their 'Daddy party' throne

[ProSense]

Republicans outraged Obama usurped their 'Daddy party' throne

by TXdem

(As has been pointed out here at Dkos, Republicans are dripping with poutrage in a lame attempt to prevent President Obama from benefitting from his own accomplishments. Dissent is important, but so is political reality.)

For decades, the Republican party enjoyed an advantage on national security and defense, anchoring and reinforcing its status as America’s ‘daddy party’. Bush’s failed Iraq strategy and prolonged bloodshed there damaged the brand, leading to a midterm meltdown and the axing of Rummy. McCain’s war service helped revive the GOP strength gap for 2008, but the financial crisis and Palin swamped that advantage. In 2012 however, the script has been flipped. After scoring an early victory on Gitmo, Republicans have largely been silent (apart from the 'Obama apology tour' meme) or muddled over security and foreign policy during the Obama presidency. Neoconservatism is unpopular and the tea party isn’t focused abroad.

The events of last year proved a major turning point in reshaping perceptions and bolstering President Obama’s standing on defense and national security as he enters into a challenging re-election campaign. In 2011 Barack Obama:

• eliminated Osama bin Laden
• ended the Iraq war
• intervened militarily to help Libyans oust the Gadhafi regime
• leveraged our relationship with the Egyptian military to end Mubarak’s reign, breathing life into the Arab Spring
• removed several other al-Qaida leaders—including Anwar al-Awlaki—from the battlefield, dramatically weakening the terrorist organization
• ended “Don’t ask, don’t tell”
• announced the withdrawal of surge forces from Afghanistan by summer of 2012, followed by a steady drawdown approaching the 2014 transfer deadline

The raid President Obama ordered that killed America’s enemy #1 is the most memorable and visceral because of its surprise nature, revealed in a dramatic Sunday night presidential statement, and for the obvious emotional connection to 9/11. The successful mission ended a decade of national impotence, unleashing a wave of euphoric celebration that manifested outside the White House, in Manhattan and across the country. As the details came out, it was clear that the elements of risk associated with the raid were high and that Obama’s advisors were not sold on the mission, further elevating the presidential decision. Finally, President Obama demonstrated such graceful leadership in visiting NYC to honor the heroes of 9/11 and comfort the victims’ families.

<...>

By fulfilling his campaign promise to end the Iraq war, Barack Obama pleased the American people and upset Republican politicians. Nothing else so starkly highlights the chasm between Republican foreign-policy ideology and the thinking of average Americans. The troops were home for the holidays but Republicans were acting like grinches, prognosticating a collapse of the Iraqi government and a return to sectarian conflict. Well, the new round of P5+1 negotiations with Iran are taking place in Baghdad next month, so I guess all hell hasn’t broken loose yet. Back on the home front, the First Lady and Dr. Jill Biden are leading a national effort through Joining Forces to, among other things, encourage companies to help meet the president's jobs challenge for returning veterans and their spouses.

<...>

By racking up victories on these fronts, President Obama has fulfilled his foundational security promise to the country and, in the process, poached the ‘daddy party’ mantle from the opposition. And he’s prepared to go on offense. End Iraq war. Check. Re-focus on al-Qaida. Check. Get bin Laden. Check. Americans like to get the bad guys, but desperately want to change the boots-on-the-ground paradigm in the so-called GWOT.

- more -

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/30/1087238/-Republicans-outraged-Obama-usurped-their-Daddy-party-throne-

Great stuff!

[BeyondGeography]

1. They left the door wide open with their ineptitude

Props to Obama for walking through it.

Even the military isn't falling over itself for the GOP anymore.

[Initech]

3. Getting Rush off of Armed Forces Radio will be a huge deal.

[Jester Messiah]

6. Will be? Is this in the works?? (Oh please oh please...) [nt]

[Initech]

20. We'll definitely see it if Obama is reelected.

But part of me is suspicious that he *WANTS* to get kicked off - the fact that he's still on the air and gets to spew the shit he does on a daily basis after he lost all those sponsors is truly mind boggling.

[Thor_MN]

25. Rush-Clear Channel-Bain Capital-Mittens

Maybe not so amazing once the dots are connected.

[yourout]

2. In all fairness to the Bush Admin......I don't think they were trying to get Osama.

They needed him alive as the almighty Boogie Man to keep those Defense Contracts rolling.

[jwirr]

8. Exactly. And that should make people distrust the gop even more.

[canuckledragger]

10. Bingo!

Conservatives in general (in my country & yours) seem to always a scapegoat enemy to distract the masses from all the scams being run..

[leftyohiolib]

15. do we NEED to be fair to that regime?

[ProSense]

24. They certainly

attempted to take credit:

The Five Stages Of GOP Reaction To Osama Bin Laden’s Death — And What’s Next
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/04/the-five-stages-of-gop-reaction-to-osama-bin-ladens-death----and-whats-next.php?ref=fpblg

[AlbertCat]

28. Obama hits "Below the belt" by mentioning he killed Bin Laden....

....or at least that was a headline I saw yesterday.... on Huff Post.

Exactly how is reminding people he did what the GOP couldn't/wouldn't do and making the whole country safer at the same time not to mention "justice", how is that below the belt negative advertising?

Had any Repug managed to do it, would we be hearing about it now? Y'think?

The GOP and their lackeys are freaking, apparently. Who but that 1/3 of people who will always be nuts would think "Hey! BTW.... I killed Osama" is below the belt after the circus of "Noun...verb....9/11" just a few years ago?

Unbelievable!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. K&R

[Tarheel_Dem]

5. Excellent piece. Thanks for posting.

[freshwest]

7. They've failed to unite Americans against a foreign enemy, so they'll double down on Americans.

They hate the vast majority of us. If they can get enough people to play their game and encourage Democrats to hate each other, they can win. A Romney presidency would be a nightmare. Yes, it can happen here.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. He took all their talking points away

I recall last year some of the old guard GOP commentators pleading with what was left of their party and their failing and now-absent leadership, to just stop. They ceded foreign policy, defense, security, taxes, and even small business support, to the Democrats. And all they have left is the psycho-memes of "God, guns, and, gays" that they know doesn't play with the independents. Raygun always talked a good game when it came to their social memes but surely never intended to nor actually expected to implement laws supporting any of them.

[tex-wyo-dem]

23. Exactly...historically speaking, the gop has used their...

Hardcore social-conservative base to whip-up into a frenzy once every four years or so to get the vote out. Once and if a repug was elected to office, the social conservatives were then shoved into a corner and ignored until they were needed the next election. The gop establishment basically couldn't give a rats ass about their demands -- the only thing they have ever cared about is getting as much money as they could into the hands of the wealthy elite, period.

When Obama was elected and some progressive reforms were on the horizon (i.e. Economic stimulus, health insurance reform, etc), Dick Armey and his henchmen thought it a good idea to co-opt the Tea Party movement, which was largely made up of the social conservative useful idiots, and use them to help block anything that might hurt the corporate establishment. The problem with this strategy was that it ended up giving significant power to the very same element that they had been keeping in check all this time. Now the insane are running the asylum holding elected positions and largely controlling the GOP message.

The old-guard repug establishment is now in a very difficult position...they can't figure out how to recage the animal without appearing to do so. They are quite screwed.

[cbdo2007]

27. Also in Health Care and the economy - he just answered their bullet points

with solutions, right down the list, so they keep having to come up with new things to complain about.

Should make for some interesting debates....and Romney should be fairly ineffective on the "God, guns, and gays" front after running Massachusetts and having a questionable religion and stuff.

I honestly think President Obama will beat Romney by more votes than he beat McCain.

[librechik]

11. If W had killed Osama, there would be a ticker tape parade

can you imagine the fancy outfit Admiral Booosh would have worn as he accepted the crowds adulation? Dripping with medals and epaulets? Big banner saying "Mission REAAAALLLLLYYY Accomplished" Ending at Ground Zero where he'd give some triumphant speech? 24/7 cablenews countdown coverage???

We'd be gagging. What Obama is doing is suitably restrained. They just hate allowing him any advantage whatsoever.

[tomp]

26. absolutely correct. good point on "mission (not) accomplished".

the republicans want to take credit for things they didn't even accomplish.

and don't forget all the crowing they did about sadaam hussein.

I cannot for the life of me figure out what the repubs expect us to think when they use the phrase "politicize the death of osama bin laden." to me it's a meme without meaning. since when are politicians not supposed to take credit for their accomplishments.

[Little Star]

12. Great stuff indeed! k&r

[zipplewrath]

13. The problem is...

As fun as it is to see the GOP lose an issue they never deserved to begin with, and as someone else said in this thread, they lost it as much through incompetence as anything else, it isn't fun to see them lose it by democrats being more GOP than the GOP. Much of his defense policy would easily fit in a GOP administration. He executed the Bush SOFA, and kept on Gates, Patreaus, et. al. ramped up Afghanistan, bombed the crap out of Pakistan and Lybia, and went to the Nobel and argued FOR war. Where's the "democratic" brand in all of that? Where's the differentiation with the GOP?

The problem of course is how could he? When the two parties consist of the nut jobs, and everyone else, anything you do comes across as "democratic" as long as it's not bat shit crazy. When hawks fit in the party along with doves, when you have people arguing for keeping Gitmo open from the democratic leadership, and when you have democrats defending defense expenditures on systems even the DoD doesn't want, how can we ever have a "debate" in this country on national defense? It ends up being an "argument with ourselves".

We need the nutjobs OUT of the GOP, so the sane people can return and we can start to have rational discussion on a rational basis about the direction this country needs to go.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

17. It's also about priorities- what Democrats prioritize and Republicans prioritize

George W. Bush's #1 priority was invading/occupying Iraq in order to, as the neocons believed would happen, "re-shape" the middle east. We'll never know quite what McCain's prioriy(ies) might have been had he become POTUS but I suspect that, given the current GOP obsession with Iran, we might be locked into a military conflict with Iran right now (either directly or indirectly)- or at least moving towards that outcome. Syria?

President Obama's priorities obviously included Bin Laden as it appears that he was very engaged on finding him from the get-go and he actually accomplished. Ending our misbegotten war in Iraq was another priority of his and he decided that intervening in Libya, as well as supporting the "Arab Spring" were important priorities, as well.

It seems kind of hard to argue that both the GOP and the Democrats have the same priorities, which IMHO make a LOT of difference in terms of what we choose to do and what are able to do. The GOP lost the issue through its incompetence to be sure and it's not like they've learned from their mistakes (though fewer people are listening to them) but the Democrats make a lot of different and IMHO better choices about military intervention and diplomacy, at least since Vietnam.

[zipplewrath]

19. "Not as bad"

You're presenting the "not as bad" argument. The dems "aren't as bad" in their militaristic choices as are the GOP. We seek the same goals, but the GOP is worse at achieving them. Which avoids the entire argument about whether they should be pursued in the first place, not just how they should be pursued.

The original article explained that Romney was having difficulty in differentiating himself from Obama on specifics about national defense. If the priorities were as sharp as you suggest, he'd be able to articulate a position. But they aren't. He'll be firmer with Iran, he'll listen to the generals on Syria (as if Obama doesn't), he'll be tougher with N. Korea, he'll pressure China "harder". These aren't "differences" they are "degrees". 'Course, one can't blame him because about his only other choice at this point is to go to the left of Obama without sounding like Ron Paul.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

22. They can only be "not as bad"

if you consider them "bad" to start off with, which I don't. I'm not even sure how you can compare President Obama's (or even President Clinton's) measured and policies with the totally off-the-wall batshit insane policies of the George W. Bush (mis)administration. And don't fool yourself about Romney because he's more likely than not going to just bring back the Bush neocons and give them cabinet positions where they can continue doing what they did during (at least) the first 4 years of Bush II. Ron Paul? Did he vote for Afghanistan? Iraq? What's so great about him anyway?

[zipplewrath]

30. Where's the democratic brand?

Contrast and compare his positions on Bush's by the end of his presidency:

SOFA: Obama kept on Gates and Patreaus et. al. to execute the SOFA without any modifications.

Afghanistan: Obama tripled the number of troops, ultimately put Patreaus in charge, and has chosen to actually increase our commitment to a seriously corrupt administration in country.

Pakistan: Has increase drone attacks, as well as other attacks inside the country, frequently without the cooperation or approval of the Pakistani government at any level.

N. Korea: Has continued to execute the exact same policy of relying up China and offering assistance to Korea in exchange for restrictions on their programs.

Basically, you can pick almost any foreign policy, or military actions that Obama is doing and you'll find precious little difference from Bush. Even where you do find them, it is a matter of degree. It's not a different style, it is that Obama is actually successful. OBL is a great example.

The largest difference one might claim is on Iran. But FUNCTIONALLy the difference hasn't been that great. Bush resisted, despite the rhetoric, actually taking military action. He also restrained Israel from taking action either. Again, Obama has continued this, and one can make the case that he has been MORE successful in gaining the cooperation of the international a community, but that is making the case that he is doing it the same, just more successfully.

Basically, you're trying to make the case that core GOP foreign and military policies have been basically "correct" and they were just really bad at executing them. They had a disastrous detour into nation building which they ultimately abandoned by Bush's second term, and other than that they were just bad at executing "good" policy.

[Orsino]

14. The President has spent three years governing.

The GOP has spent that time trying to write more tax breaks for millionaires.

[Jamaal510]

16. The GOP has spent those 3 years

keeping millions out of work in order to put one man out of a job.

[Iliyah]

18. The GOP

has spent the last 1 1/2 years f**king with women, voter rights, worker's rights, unions, women's health, education, health care, etc.

They have layed off or fired many state & federal workers.

All done in the same of the 1%. . . more tax breaks, sending jobs oversea, banking oversea, subisidies for wall street, oil companies, and major corporations.

These are your so called Christians, ie Paul Ryan, et al.,

F**k the middle class and the poor to enrich even more the 1%.

[Bandit]

21. Not to even mention the taking out of the Pirates around Somalia

US Seals almost completely put an end to the scourge of piracy of the eastern coast of Africa....Obama could easily take another bow for that bit of police work as well.

[peace frog]

29. Schadenfreude is sweet

and I'm eating it up with a spoon. Suffer, wingnuts!