Time was that after a hard-fought campaign, a President did his work from the oval office, used the bully pulpit in front of a TV camera, and lobbied congress either personally or through his surrogates and party leaders to persuade them to sign on to his agenda.
President Clinton and other liberals of that time, began to re-shape that model with the never-ending campaign. Political observers could not discern that the campaign that got him elected ever ended. The next thing to change was the dialog. With the campaign still in place, anything that the ‘other side of the aisle’ (Republicans) debated for was not merely wrong, but dangerous and harmful, if not downright criminal. Segments of the population became the tools of the Left. Things like “They want to starve children” became the narrative. And without challenge, the media carried it forward.
Not recognizing this shift, or discounting it as an aberration that would somehow naturally go away, the Bush administration that followed remained ‘old school.’ And much to their detriment, never standing up to the salacious attacks, never defending his positions, and never calling out people like Ted Kennedy for their lies and straw man arguments (Saddam Hussein did not plan 9/11), Republicans have again found themselves scratching their heads (see Karl Rove’s head), wondering what happened to them.
What happened to them is they have successfully been marginalized by a combination of their own non-combative ethos and the double team effort of progressives’ ethos and the media. If Republicans are going to ever win again, they’ve got to fight back.
All of which brings me to the letter received from President Obama’s community organizing wing of the White House called Organizing for Action.
On Tuesday, President Obama laid out a plan to create jobs and strengthen the middle class.
This isn’t going to be an easy legislative fight, but we’re not ones to sit out when the going gets tough — especially for a fight as important as this.
This Saturday, Chicago mayor and former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel is hosting a tele-town hall to talk about the President’s proposed plan and what we can do to make it happen.
Sign up today to join the call this Saturday at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
You’ll be joining supporters around the country — plus some of the staff at Organizing for Action — to get the info you need on the President’s plan and how we can get Congress to act on it.
The President is counting on us.
RSVP now for the tele-town hall on Saturday, and you’ll get all the info you need to join the call:
http://my.barackobama.com/Tele-Town-Hall {join the fight 🙂 }
Thanks,
Stephanie
Stephanie Cutter
Organizing for Action