Spring Break
Being Republican in the age of Obama?
Paul Hawkins
Issue date: 2/10/09 Section: Opinion
The age of Obama is supposed to be post-partisan. The first test of this new era came with the new stimulus bill that has been voted on by the House, and as I am writing this article it is still being debated in the Senate. Not one Republican House member voted for the bill, and the Senate has been negotiating back and forth to attempt to make it a bipartisan bill. Some have already accused Republicans of not being cooperative with the new president.
All of this begs the question: What does it mean to be a Republican in this new environment? How does the 46 percent of those who did not support the Democrats in the last election unite behind our new president, but at the same time fight for the principles they believe in?
Elections have consequences. Republicans should not expect the Democrats to compromise all the time. After all, they won the election. However, this new call of bipartisanship shouldn't mean cocktail parties and nice words from the president. Truly bipartisan pieces of legislation have to contain serious compromises. The Democrat's version of the bill did not contain these compromises, so every Republican House member united to oppose the bill.
I was proud and energized to see the Republican caucus unite to oppose this bill. It was a straight-out wasteful spending bill. Republicans shouldn't be expected to roll over and allow the Democrats to do whatever they want. As stated above, the public would not be served if this took place. Democracy is all about a back and forth in the marketplace of ideas. In the current debate and the ones to come, Republicans should never let go of their principles just for the sake of bipartisanship. At the same time, when true compromises come along, Republicans should stand ready to unite behind the president or whoever else to do something good for the country.
A political party's job is to gain power in office. I am excited to see several up-and- coming Republican governors like Bobby Jindal, Charlie Crist and Arnold Schwarzenegger who put into practice Republican governance every day. Recently, the most exciting thing to take place was the election of Michael Steele as the new Chairman of the Republican National Committee.
All of this begs the question: What does it mean to be a Republican in this new environment? How does the 46 percent of those who did not support the Democrats in the last election unite behind our new president, but at the same time fight for the principles they believe in?
Elections have consequences. Republicans should not expect the Democrats to compromise all the time. After all, they won the election. However, this new call of bipartisanship shouldn't mean cocktail parties and nice words from the president. Truly bipartisan pieces of legislation have to contain serious compromises. The Democrat's version of the bill did not contain these compromises, so every Republican House member united to oppose the bill.
I was proud and energized to see the Republican caucus unite to oppose this bill. It was a straight-out wasteful spending bill. Republicans shouldn't be expected to roll over and allow the Democrats to do whatever they want. As stated above, the public would not be served if this took place. Democracy is all about a back and forth in the marketplace of ideas. In the current debate and the ones to come, Republicans should never let go of their principles just for the sake of bipartisanship. At the same time, when true compromises come along, Republicans should stand ready to unite behind the president or whoever else to do something good for the country.
A political party's job is to gain power in office. I am excited to see several up-and- coming Republican governors like Bobby Jindal, Charlie Crist and Arnold Schwarzenegger who put into practice Republican governance every day. Recently, the most exciting thing to take place was the election of Michael Steele as the new Chairman of the Republican National Committee.
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Mr. Jones
posted 2/20/09 @ 6:31 PM EST
I think the passage of the stimulus package goes to Obama's bold new charm offensive: terror. He is quoted as saying "We are going through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. (Continued…)
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