Obama's election in 2008 broke the GOP

[Yavin4]

Yes, a lot of the GOP simply couldn't handle seeing the first African American elected to the presidency, but that doesn't tell the whole story. For example, if Colin Powell were elected, I don't think that you'd see the party react the way it did. They don't have a problem with African Americans in leadership positions so long as it's the right kind of African Americans. See Clarence Thomas.

What really broke the GOP in 2008 was that two legs of the famous Reagan stool got ripped out. Recall, starting in 1980, the Republican party had a three legged stool. They were strong on national security and were willing to use military force abroad. They were pro markets which meant lower taxes and de-regulation, and they were socially conservative.

The 2008 election represented a rejection of Bush II's invasion and occupation of Iraq. Four years earlier, the war carried Bush II to a re-election victory, giving the GOP their only popular vote win in the last 32 years. In the Democratic primary in 2004, Howard Dean was ridiculed for not being a supporter of the war, but in 2008, Obama won the primary primarily because he came out against the war. Ever since then, national security is no longer the political wedge issue that Republicans relied on to win presidential elections from 1968 to 2004.

Also, in 2008, we had an economic meltdown in the housing market and on Wall street leading to massive bailouts of big banks. The second leg of that stool, de-regulation and lower taxation, was also ripped out. Being pro-markets and then relying on tax payer bailouts destroyed this leg as a political wedge.

That has left only the social conservative leg. A smart poltiical party would have moderated their views. Worked with the other party in good faith to forge a new identity. But no. Not the GOP. Instead, they have doubled, tripled, and quadrupled down on their final leg, social conservatism, and the fringe elements that come along with it.

The GOP is a one-legged stool.

[NewHendoLib]

1. Stool is what they are, indeed

meaning shit. They are a destructive, ignorant, dangerous cult

[cilla4progress]

4. Right on,

NewHendoLib!

[Renew Deal]

2. You may remember that they did a post-mortem on 2012 that told them to broaden their tent.

They didn't listen to that. They are fighting the fact that they are the minority on a national level. They've won the popular vote 1 time since 1988. Most Americans don't support them.

[ITAL]

10. I think the party elders tried to

People don't remember now, but even FOX News was trying to moderate their stances on things like immigration after 2012. It's the voters that didn't. When Eric Cantor was defeated in his primary, that was the base rejecting any moderating influence. The party took note.

[Wounded Bear]

34. Yep, and instead they doubled down and we got trump...

[ymetca]

3. That's a really good analysis

Unfortunately that last leg of the stool is a giant old tree, rooted in slavery.

[OneTotalMook]

19. A stool with just one leg makes a nice CLUB!

you got it... and the most important thing that we all must remember is that a NUMERICAL MINORITY can still be in the majority when it comes to WEALTH & OWNERSHIP. It's like when mapmakers & statisticians redraw the RED/BLUE map to take into account that 3X as many Americans live east of the Mississippi and most people out west outside of Texas live nearer to the Pacific Ocean.

By the same token... blacks & women & young people & immigrants may add up to a LOT of people.... but all those so-called declining demographics which are getting older and less dominant in the day to day life of the country.. are holding onto their MONEY & WEALTH... their pensions, investments, houses, assets, mortgages, and land ownership are huge. And it always has to be remembered that it is THEIR inheritance that will disproportionately be given to essentially the same demographic they currently represent. MONEY TALKS. MONEY WINS ELECTIONS. MONEY HAS MOBILITY!

I remember the first day after Obama took office.. I was nervous to go to the supermarket and I had no reason to be in the northeast but I know things had changed. Once it looked like things were ok... I relaxed... I thought... give it three months and the country will see that nothing has really gone wrong... I thought that this was a time of real opportunity. I was sure that Obama would have absolutely no wiggle room to do ANYTHING of note.. but he wouldn't even try to as he was the first black President.
I figured that the primary impulse in the country would be for blacks & hispanics to move in the direction of financial improvement, consolidating gains, easing away from the Reagan era & the heat vs light of the 80s . To move away from the political focus and activism and use the potential of the coming 8(?) years with a black figurehead in the White House as a kind of resolution of the previous 50 years of racial tensions. I had NO wisdom to foresee the tea party, the Demint/McConnell massive resistance strategy so immediately employed, the descent into conspiratorial fact free thinking from "keep your dirty government hands off my affordable healthcare/medicare" to QANON etc. So I can only agree with your analysis 1000% .. Obama's election was a breaking point. Even many who supported him saw in his ascension an ending date on the end of the WHITE MAN'S VETO in American society. It did for whites over 50 what it did for whites UNDER 15.. it put a vision in their heads of an all powerful person of color in a primary seat of power in a western government and that can't be UNSEEN.

That said... WHITES are still the majority in America. Even when their numbers are no longer 50-70% of the population. Their representation in leadership, ownership, and KNOWLEDGEship remains essentially unchallenged and their outsized wealth still gives them a VETO on issues of education, social & financial access, and healthcare.

[yonder]

20. Excellent post.

[OneTotalMook]

24. thank you..hope my fumbling isn't too long winded but the troubles in Nashville got me thinking.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

5. National Security is still a vital interest for American voters.

We are just inordinately more competent at that task than people like Donald J Trump and the Republican Party.

Which is the understatement of all time.

[Yavin4]

9. I've seen very little analysis on how Trump's Republican party completely abandoned the Iraq war.

The 2002 mid terms and the 2004 presidential election swung entirely on national defense following 9/11. If you weren't hungry for war, you had no political future. Stalwarts on national defense like Max Cleland, a war veteran, lost re-election bids for being "soft" on Iraq.

Now? Not a word. It's like it never happened.

[OneTotalMook]

26. The Road from Cleland Through Miller to Kemp Is Something All Dems Should Review!

[blm]

6. This should go viral, Yavin

[roamer65]

7. Yes, they still can't stand the fact we elected an African American president.

My beloved President Obama.

[OneTotalMook]

28. ..And That He Didn't End Up Going Missing for 3 Days & Wound Up Walking Naked On a Highway!

Obama would have ended up Herschel Walker/Alan Keyes beloved if he had gotten elected and then got caught out drunk & carousing at 3 AM at a DC nightclub or pulled an Andrew Gillum just before the 2012 election.. but he did the worst thing of all... he was the most boring, measured, sober and controlled figure in most rooms while all of his opponents were acting out like a bunch of rowdy frat boys. For that they could not hate him more if they tried!

[cilla4progress]

8. It's even beyond conservatism.

It's fascism. Authoritarianism.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

25. Populism.

[Captain Zero]

35. Know Nothing populism

nt

[f_townsend]

11. Broke the GOP?

Since Obama, the GOP has taken over the majority of state legislatures. They have a supermajority on SCOTUS.

Obama stupidly began the practice of getting rid of the 50 state program.

[Yavin4]

12. You can corrupt the system to win power but can they hold onto it?

Their victories are hollow because they're using their power for their social conservative agenda which is not popular.

[f_townsend]

13. If that makes you feel better...

[Yavin4]

22. American political history is replete with corrupt political systems gaining power.

And wreaking havoc, but holding onto power requires benefitting the public over the long haul. Already in these Republican states, we've seen direct ballot initiatives in favor of the ACA and making abortion legal.

[Captain Zero]

36. INDIANA GOP has just fucked their base on property taxes

Not sure when it will sink in to these numbskulls.

A problem with formulas has led to huge property tax hikes and the recent legislative session would not even address it.

So the super majority party of low taxes has just fucked the faithful by spending all their time on abortion and book banning and LGBTQ witch hunts.

Stay tuned.

[progressoid]

17. Their victories aren't hollow.

Local and State elections that have gone to Republicans have wreaked havoc with civil rights, education, reproductive rights, and on and on. This is more than just drag shows and Bud Lite.

And then there is the judiciary. They've managed to flood the courts with Federalist judges.

[OneTotalMook]

29. It's BETTER than being Popular.... IT'S CHEAP! OWN THE LIBS..Drink Their Tears.. Deliver NOTHING!

[progressoid]

15. +1

[NowISeetheLight]

14. The Leg

Honestly the "social conservative" leg is all the have today. All this culture war garbage like book banning and drag queen hysteria are a diversion. The truth is they have no plan for anything like healthcare, saving social security, infrastructure, they're an empty bucket.

[Yavin4]

23. Also, what is their national security platform?

They're all over the place on Ukraine, and Trump wants to invade Mexico.

[Hekate]

18. Very interesting, Yavin

[pnwmom]

21. That, followed by the marriage equality SCOTUS decision in 2015. nt

[betsuni]

27. Big banks paid back bailouts, tax-payers were not affected.

Look it up.

[Yavin4]

30. Besides the point.

For decades, Republicans campaigned on lower regulations and taxes, but when the banks started failing largely because they were operating in a lightly regulated environment, they needed bailouts from the government. Regardless of whether they paid it back or not.

If you want a deregulated environment, then you have to suffer the consequences for failing. If you cannot afford to suffer the consequences, then you need a regulated environment.

[Novara]

31. I think it's much simpler than that.

They lost their fucking minds when we elected a very qualified and competent black Democrat as president.

They've been making the country pay for this ever since 2008. Revenge politics. It's all they've got.

[Yavin4]

32. I think that's too simplistic.

If Colin Powell won the presidency in 2008 which was a strong possibility at one point, most Republicans wouldn't freak out.

They lost two of their three main pillars, national security and deregulation/taxes, that won them elections from 1968 through 2004.

[Novara]

33. Did you see that I wrote he was a Democrat?

They have de-legitimatized Democrats since the New Deal. this hate really took hold and solidified during Clinton's two terms. So when a black Democrat won the presidency, they swore to make America pay. That's exactly what they've been doing ever since. Remember McConnell's efforts to de-legitimatize every single thing Obama did? It started as soon as he was inaugurated. It still continues. Trump ran because Obama made a fool of him at the WH Correspondent's dinner. It's all been revenge politics since 2008.

And you're right - if he was a Republican, they'd have embraced him and crowed about how "equal" black people are, "post-racial," and all that claptrap. But Obama was a Democrat. And they hated him from the beginning.