The Republican Platform

There is a great post by Robert J. Elisberg over at the Huffington Post, in which he discusses the difficult the Republican Party is going to have running on anything. He begins by taking on one of my pet peeves; the complaint that Democrats don't have a clear platform.

Despite implied-perceptions to the contrary, people actually do know what issues Democrats support: stem cell research, Medicare, stopping global warming, Social Security reform without privatization, universal health care, and not blindly "Staying the Course" in Iraq, for starters.

Certainly it all needs to be expressed more cohesively. But as a starting point, the public knows those are Democratic Party issues. The only people without any idea what the Democratic Party stands for are radical conservatives so far to the right they risk falling off the edge.

He then covers what the Republicans have to stand for. The President's programs won't work, not with him at 33% approval rating and falling. Smaller government and fiscal responsibility is out too; after having control of the whole shebang for a number of years, they haven't cut government programs, nor have they cut federal spending. And frankly there's not that much left on the table.

Yes, Democrats need to focus their own issues. But those issues are established. But if you are a Republican candidate - what national platform can you truly campaign on? At least without your nose growing longer.

Smaller government? The budget deficit? Stay the Course? Rebuilding New Orleans? Stem cell research? Halliburton Oil? Integrity? The 33% President himself?

Frankly, I believe that the Republicanoids are not going to run "for" anything, but focus on running against Democrats. They are going to try to tap into the hatred their base has for Democrats, for the media, and for elitists, and use that to carry them home.

We'll see if that hatred can go the distance.