Man of Steele

January 30, 2009 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ 1 Comment

Michael Steele is the new RNC Chairman. This is big for a few reasons.

First, and most obviously, is Steele’s race. The Republican Party has nominated a female vice presidential candidate and elected a black party chairman in the past six months. These events are helping answer criticism of the GOP as the “white male” party.

Second, is that Steele has experience fighting in Maryland, a deep blue state. Republicans must be aggressive in taking on their opponents. During the Bush Administration, the party seemed content with electoral losses in blue states, reasoning that those citizens just weren’t receptive to Republican messages. That is exclusionary thinking; and even if it’s true, the party cannot admit it as such. An optimistic party chair must at least pay lip service to the belief that all Americans would be receptive to his or her message – as Howard Dean did when he launched his 50 state strategy for the DNC.

Third, Steele is an aggressive communicator, which the GOP needs if they are to remain on offense even as the minority party. The Republican Party has fallen into a rut, pointing to their past successes and resting on their laurels, quoting Ronald Reagan and pining for a return to 1985. I don’t care how fast your DeLorean goes, that just isn’t happening.

Republicans need a positive, forward-looking message that goes beyond the past and certainly goes beyond waiting for President Obama and Congressional Democrats to screw up. (This Washington Times article should be required reading for all GOP and conservative activists.) Michael Steele appears poised to bring a voice that can deliver that message.

For transparency, this is a little fuzzy…

January 30, 2009 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

President Obama’s stimulus package was the story of the week. The bill passed, but the bigger story may be what didn’t happen – or at least, didn’t happen yet.

TechPresident’s Nancy Scola was incredulous that President Obama did not mobilize his grassroots standing army to support the stimulus, even as Republicans began crying “pork.” Scola wondered if this showed the President felt he could take care of navigating the bill through Congress on his own. But some Obama critics – like Craig Colgan of TechRepublican – point out that the White House has not exactly on the cutting edge of new media, with a website that delivers little of the transparency, connection, and access that was promised on the campaign trail.

The answer may be that Team Obama cares more about the image of transparency than the actual substance. Consider Recovery.gov – a site which promises to track the stimulus package after its passage, so citizens can see where their tax dollars are going. A nice concept, but somewhat useless – after the bill passes, taxpayers can do little if nothing to change where their dollars go.

It may be that the Obama Administration realizes that, with less-than-ironclad public support, it may be wise to keep the people at an arms length while the stimulus is debated and ultimately passed by Congressional Democrats. But they will give you a great view once your money starts getting flushed.

Bipartisan Opposition

January 30, 2009 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

Some corners of the mainstream media continue to chide Republicans for opposing President Obama’s stimulus/bailout/recovery/handout/train wreck bill. But on the day where the new face of the GOP will be chosen, consider this:

Opposition to the bill was bi-partisan, with 11 Democrats joining the Republicans in voting “Nay.” The same can’t be said for the support.

We Are Republican

January 30, 2009 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

This is a video that is a long time coming. It sets a nice tone for Republicans over the next few years, translating exactly how Republican ideas work for people like me. That element – the answer to the question “how does this affect me” – has been missing from the GOP, arguably since the Katrina disaster.

I could do without the references to Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater, though – like Bird, McHale, and Parrish, they aren’t walking through that door.

French media goes on strike

January 29, 2009 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

French reporters are on strike today to protest proposed changes to public broadcasting media management.

The fact that anyone knows about this may be a signpost of the declining relevance of traditional media… or it means French reporters must really suck at going on strike.

The choice of a new generation?

January 29, 2009 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

Sure, Congressional Democrats continues to work on a giant spending bill even with the economy in the doldrums. But luckily, President Obama seems to have instituted his own stimulus plan to help our struggling businesses create more jobs – companies like Pepsi are capitalizing on the themes of the Obama campaign to move more of their own project.

As this Metro billboard suggests, Pepsi has adopted the mantra of hope and change. It’s more appropriate than they know – Pepsi has been claiming to be the “choice of a new generation” for decades – probably long enough to be the choice of the next generation that came along after the original new generation. It’s a message based more on positioning a brand than on any kind of substance.

Snowbama

January 28, 2009 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

Two inches of snow plus a little ice canceled schools in Your Nation’s Capital and the surrounding areas over the past two days. I treated my walk to and from the Metro like an Obama Administration “process,” taking it slowly and methodically because the unshoveled snow on the sidewalks had turned to ice.

Given that this weather is a mere dusting in places like the upper Midwest (and my adopted homeland of New England) President Obama has called on the DC area to “apply some flinty Chicago toughness.”

You know something? He’s right on about this one.

Betting the farm

January 28, 2009 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

With stimulus/bailout talk dominating the headlines, President Obama’s Department of Agriculture is doing something smart – reviewing the disbursement of farm subsidies to stop some payments. Currently, the flawed handout program sends cash to some people who have never planted a seed in their lives – and probably couldn’t tell a hole in the ground from… well, you can figure that part out.

It’s over a year old, but this blog post from Merry Olde England has a clever take on the ridiculousness of farm subsidies.

Yes We Cantor

January 27, 2009 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

A running theme of the early Obama Administration has been “process.”

When will the President make good on his promise to pull troops out of Iraq? How will the President handle the suspected terrorists at Guantanamo? When will the government pass an economic policy to make everything better? White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has frequently referred to each situation as a process – giving the Administration a chance to delay and diffuse questions.

And as Mama Eltringham pointed out to me today, one Republican is turning that back on the Administration. Faced with a harmful economic stimulus bill, Republicans are looking to delay and diffuse too – delay (or destroy) a harmful bill and diffuse criticism that they are suffering from sour grape syndrome since November. So Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia used the same language:

“The House is set to vote on the legislation as soon as tomorrow… Cantor said the House vote on the legislation ‘is only the first step in the process.'”

Gibbs later credited Cantor with successfully pushing to publish the stimulus package online for public scrutiny – a tactic which not only delays the bill’s passage, but forces the Obama Administration to explain spending $800+ billion in tax dollars during a time when working folks are pinching every penny to get by.

But don’t accuse the Republicans of trying to sink the stimulus. They’re just letting the process play out.

Power vacuum

January 26, 2009 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

The Washington Post painted a great picture of the evolution of Your Nation’s Capital in a piece that ran yesterday.

The Post‘s Joel Kotkin points out that DC is unique among national capitals in that it was not a significant city before it was chosen to house the federal government – and even afterward, its growth was slow because American federalism concentrated power elsewhere. But as power became more centralized in the 20th century – especially in the last 30-40 years – Washington has grown in size and cultural significance.

At the same time, Kotkin reminds us, other American cities have suffered crises of identity; Detroit’s auto makers, New York’s financial barons, and others have been “forced to kiss Washington’s ring.” Businesses are moving their corporate headquarters here to be closer to the machinations of government.

Like most federal initiatives, Washington is synthetic. Cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Boston sprang up on their own because of their access to ports and commerce; Washington was placed strategically; it has planned by a relatively small committee of officials; and its growth has been fueled by money taken from other parts of the country.