The Conservative Revolution: Obstructionism

After 12 years of the conservative revolution ushered in by Ronald Reagan, a hiccup emerged in the guise of a chubby, but handsome philanderer from the South who promised to cross the partisan divide and govern economically from the middle and socially from the left. It was a huge challenge and one that could have destroyed the burgeoning GOP rule. What did they do to stem the tide of loss? A three-pronged approach to attacking from the rear, centered on wedge, attack and obstruct. Two years into the Clinton Presidency, this strategy showed its first major success, as Republicans took over the House for the first time in 50 years. Under the tutelage of Newt Gingrich, they put WAO into full effect.

I have often written here of the effectiveness of this plan. Clinton did raise taxes in his first term, to great effect, but other than the tech bubble that he left us with he will be remembered predominantly for a number of arguably “conservative” victories: deregulating telecommunications, radically reforming welfare, banking reform in 1998 that left us with the Wall Street we still suffer through today, filling our prisons with male youth of color, balancing the budget and shrinking the debt. And on social and environmental issues, his record isn’t much better. How did the GOP effectively push a popular president to the right? It was clearly WAO at work. Let’s focus on its use during the Clinton Presidency, and ever since.

1.  Wedge: while this last election and the falling stock of the Tea Party suggest new wedges need to be found, it is clear that the triumvirate of anti-gay (marriage), anti-illegal-immigrant (particularly of the brown persuasion) and anti-abortion stances are enough to win elections across the Southern and Middle states of America. The gay marriage issue, in fact, arguably won Bush a second term – as he won every state where there was an anti-gay-marriage ballot initiative including the decisive Ohio vote. And even with all the people dying in high profile shootings, the NRA can still round up heavy support for anti-gun-control fervor. Thomas Frank has covered this ground in depth in What’s the Matter with Kansas, although Larry Bartels makes a compelling case that Franks is wrong in his clever response What's the Matter with What's the Matter with Kansas? While the last election showed that the cache of gay and immigration battering may be waning, there are always social issues important enough to many Americans that they can be swayed away from their own economic and political interests. And just as we thought another of those issues might fall off the table – Mark Rubio is now arguing we don’t have the votes for Immigration Reform, when it looked like a good bet mere weeks ago.

2.   Attack: Clinton truly was the Teflon President, considering how many investigations and attacks were levied against him. The fact that only one appears to have been based on fact, and we know which one that was, the constant necessity of responding to legal and political challenges undermined Clinton’s ability to rule. This has been more difficult with Obama, so the GOP has gotten even more nefarious with their charges – that he isn’t a U.S. citizen, that he is a Muslim, that he asked the IRS to attack conservative causes and that he is somehow culpable for Benghazi because he didn’t call it a terrorist attack within 24 hours. They have also, of course, used veiled and outright racism, called him both a socialist and a fascist (hmm, that’s confusing) and anything else they can to undermine faith in the President. Since the GOP doesn’t really stand for anything accept shrinking government and supporting corporate and elite power, the frequency and level of attack ads and campaigns has increased exponentially, facilitated by the Citizens United decision of 2010.

3.  Obstruct: When Bush was a couple of years into his Presidency, he complained vociferously that Democratic Senators were holding up his truly radical judicial nominees. Other Republicans argued that they had been much better when Clinton was in office. The reality? The exact opposite. The GOP blocked nominee after nominee, initiating a plan to stack the federal court system with conservatives at all  levels (particularly the Supreme Court – which is now the most pro-corporate in history). And they continue to do so today, blocking Obama nominees to the important federal appeals court in DC: The Hill.

This three-pronged approach to minority rule has been coupled with bullying and pushing through unpopular legislation whenever they do have power, as under Bush II. It is a winning strategy for the GOP, but probably a losing one for America.