Opinions

Jenkins: Democrats look like roadkill, but Republicans have no time to gloat

It must stink to be Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Repudiated. Abandoned. Frustrated. One day, he is on top of the world, thumbing his nose at Republicans and the American people. The next? Looking up at the underside of a runaway bus.

Apparently stunned senseless by Tuesday's Democratic election disaster, Reid appears befuddled.

"The message from voters is clear: they want us to work together," he says. "I look forward to working with Senator McConnell to get things done for the middle class."

He is, of course, dreadfully wrong and Republicans everywhere should take note: They could be just as hopelessly confused -- and soon -- if they muff the opportunity handed them by the American people.

When voters anxious about wage growth, jobs, the economy and President Barack Obama's clumsy, abrasive governing style gave the GOP its largest House majority since Harry Truman's days, they were not saying, "We love you." When voters handed the party control of the Senate, they were not saying, "You are our guys."

When they re-elected GOP governors in several states and elected Republicans in blue states such as Maryland and, of all places, Illinois, Obama's home state, voters were not telling Republicans, "We desperately want you to compromise with Democrats."

What they were saying is clear: "We are very, very angry. We do not like anything about Obama -- nothing -- and you Republicans better stop him from destroying the country. We are tired of his socialist claptrap. You better fix government and the economy and the business climate and return the United States to constitutional greatness. You better do it right. You better block Obama's immigration madness and fix health care. You get one shot."

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Obama's boundless political ineptitude provided critical mass for the explosive Republican gains. If he did not exist, the GOP would have had to invent him. The guy is as bad at politics as he is at basketball, from all accounts, although he is blissfully unaware. Bill Clinton is a consummate politician; Obama is a klutz -- an unappealing klutz, at that. Where Clinton was able to disarm the opposition, Obama makes it dig in. Where Clinton was charming, Obama is offensive.

His partisan, in-your-face style, his lies, his pound-you-down lack of respect for opposing views, his aloof arrogance and cocky disdain for constitutional principles all have worked against him over the last six years. He racked up a phalanx of enemies when he should have found a better way. Even his signature policy initiative, Obamacare, is a disaster of immeasurable magnitude.

His administration's list of offenses is lengthy. Benghazi. Using the IRS against political adversaries. Tapping Associated Press telephones. The Fast and Furious gun-running disaster that left people dead and his attorney general held in contempt of Congress. The Keystone XL pipeline. NSA spying. Fudged unemployment numbers. Obama's travails seem endless. America noticed. Democrats noticed.

Obama became poison for Democratic office-seekers. Even Harry Reid's Mark Begich took pains to avoid him like a bad rash, especially after the president reminded Americans his policies were on the ballot, though he was not. He found himself a problematic pariah dumped on election sidelines as Democrats asked, "Barack who?"

Still, he does not get it. Despite the election, Obama is unrepentant, even belligerent, blaming others for the Democrat debacle.

Republicans to their credit were smarter this time around. They selected, vetted and trained better candidates. They aggressively organized and flushed out the vote. While some Republican candidates individually targeted Obamacare, the GOP nationally mined the hot and growing anger with Obama and his policies.

Now, Republicans control both chambers and find themselves able to do the things they promised -- for the middle class, for the economy, for growth, for tax relief. They can finally force Obama to make decisions unprotected by Harry Reid, who in past years has shielded him from controversial legislation.

In dealing with Obama, if Republicans ditch their principles for expedience, if they waffle or compromise or forget why leery Americans backed them, if they cannot present a face and a party appealing to a weary nation, they may be missing a last chance before evolving demographics cause a permanent shift in voters away from the GOP. If they cannot embrace their new mandate, they can begin counting the days until they find themselves next to Harry Reid.

Repudiated. Abandoned. Frustrated.

Looking up at the underside of a runaway bus.

Paul Jenkins is editor of the AnchorageDailyPlanet.com, a division of Porcaro Communications.

The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, e-mail commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com

Paul Jenkins

Paul Jenkins is a former Associated Press reporter, managing editor of the Anchorage Times, an editor of the Voice of the Times and former editor of the Anchorage Daily Planet.

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