Conor Rogers, Editor-In-Chief
Ideology: Republican | Writing From: New York City

It started out great for President Obama. He won the election on little else than a nationwide desire for change and an ability to portray the Republicans as a party of no we can’t. Aided by an exceptional Democratic public relations team, Obama steamrolled into the Presidency. As Obama entered the White House and debates roiled over the stimulus package, the White House again successfully painted the GOP as a party that was simply against stimulus and against the middle class. It was a page right out of the campaign Obama playbook – and it worked. The Democrats were on message and had Republicans playing defense.  Suddenly in July, however, something strange happened: the steady march of legislation led by Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi met something that we Republicans had feared was a victim of campaign Obama – Center Right America. The Democrats convinced America to put their faith in a Democratic Congress, and a Democratic President. Yet, Obama won on promises of compromise, post-partisanship and a new beginning. The party expanded its hold on Congress because they ran conservative and moderate candidates that make Rudy Giuliani look like a Democrat, not on promises of universal healthcare.

The minute the decision to simultaneously advance national healthcare and cap-and-trade legislation was made, the Democratic Party essentially withdrew all the political capital amassed by Obama and backed into trenches they never should have dug out.

This decision made sense; the Republican Party was in disarray, the conservatives blamed McCain for the 2008 failure, and moderates targeted the Bush years and folksy Sarah Palin as the cause for loss. The GOP had been hit by repeated scandals and had no popular face to point to, only controversial governors and a series of 2012 hopefuls that had fallen from grace. Yet in a series of events Karl Rove could only dream of, the Democrats decided to consecutively advance cap-and-trade (billed as the ‘largest tax increase in history’ meets burden on farmers and families) and a healthcare plan that expanded government control, while covering abortions at taxpayer expense – without a plan to pay for it all. The Democrats provided the Republicans with the ammo they needed to reunify a fractured party. Meanwhile, unemployment was on its way up towards 10% and “green jobs” were nowhere to be found. Unexpectedly, as Barack Obama’s healthcare deadline passed without anything to show for it, the Republican Party got its Christmas in July. The number one policy initiative of the unstoppable, untouchable President Obama had been blocked.

The health bill was naturally going to draw the ire of capitalists – but why include abortion funding, while failing to mention that there will be “end-of-life consultations”? The Democrats gave reason for, and allowed, “healthcare reform” to be repackaged as a pro-choice, big-government, HillaryCare 2.0, betrayal of the elderly – and nothing could possibly unify the Republicans more than that. The Democrats’ main problem is that their main solution, President Barack Obama, is under assault. Social conservatives, capitalists and elderly Americans are on the warpath, and as the public option becomes optional, the “death boards” fall victim to Sarah Palin and Blue Dogs shelve everything from emissions restrictions to government-run anything, team Obama has lost the essential element of any successful White House – control. They’ve lost control of the Blue Dog caucus, control of the independents, and most importantly, control of the debate itself.

To make matters worse, as the Democratic Party fractures and Obama’s ratings take a hit, the White House is blaming the Republican Party. This excuse will not fly with the American public. They elected a powerful Democratic President, and gave the Democrats a super majority in Congress. Republicans couldn’t block this healthcare plan if they tried – it’s moderate Democrats that are holding up the debate. Pretending like it’s the Republican Party standing in the way has made President Obama look like a practitioner of the “politics as usual” that he so ardently campaigned against. His favorability ratings show his post-partisan image is taking a hit.

In the past week alone, conflicting positions over ‘the public option’ have sent the healthcare debate and the Democratic Party into chaos. President Obama has laid the public plan out as a bargaining chip – maybe. Only two days after saying we “may or may not” have a public option at a town hall meeting and sparking a riot on the left-wing, the White House signaled it may use the so called “nuclear option” – when one party abandons all hope for compromise and instead sticks with an ideologically pure bill. Again, one must question what team Obama is thinking: after two months of battles watering down the plan, the White House reverts back to its April/May position of refusing to compromise, just as town hall anger reaches its fever pitch and Obama’s poll numbers get dangerously close to 50%. The White House has backed itself into a corner; conservative Democrats will not accept a bill with a public option, and liberal democrats will not accept a plan that omits one.

President Obama’s unclear back-and-forth on the public option is going to be political suicide for healthcare reform. To put it in perspective, President Obama’s  sudden reversion back to “no compromise” after months of debate would be the near equivalent of former President Bush fighting for the troop surge plan for months and then announcing that our plan was again to “stay the course.”  Failure to be on message, being unready to explain vaguely worded things like “end-of-life consultations”, and attempting to disagree with the Congressional Budget Office when it shuts the door on half your argument proves that the Democratic Party’s biggest problem is now a public relations one. Quite the unbelievable situation for the same party that ran the best election campaign ever seen in 2008.

The minute “Yes, We Can” became “Maybe, We’ll See” the Democratic Party should have expected nothing less than plunging poll numbers, a fractured party and negative media coverage. In a span of only two months, the Republicans have gone from “leaderless and unorganized” to an organized machine, and the Democrats have blown the most political capital ever amassed in the short span of only eight months – and they have little to show for it save a Supreme Court Judge, an $800 billion dollar spending spree and Sens. Chuck Grassley and Kent Conrad sitting across the other side of the table, maybe, ready to negotiate.