Republicans are beginning to look dazed and confused. Without a leader in sight or a relevant slogan, they are still making banter and noise, desperately flocking TEA parties and resurrecting radio hosts. After many closed door sessions, they still have not produced a single counter-reformative measure that can effectively compete with Obama’s much criticized stimulus bill.
Just this week, a new Pew poll shows Obama’s approval ratings for the first 100 days in office higher than Reagan’s numbers. Unlike Reagan who did not face the biggest economic slowdown since the Great Depression, Obama’s challenge, unprecedented in all categories, seems to have propelled the opposition’s cacophony to new levels.
What Obama has to realize is that oppositions are part of the dynamics of a democracy, and that instead of creating a playing field for them, he has to govern by the ideals he was elected on. In every democratic government, oppositions get by relatively well, as long as they are productive and coherent, which has not been the case for Republicans. Image rehabilitation is only part of the medicine needed for a healthy recovery. This was the case for the Democrats in the eight years of the Bush Administration.
Finally this election was a referendum at all levels. Mr. Obama should not expect any complacency or candor from the opposition. If this is a showdown between the status quo and fulfilling the platform he was elected on, it should sink in that 58% of the electorate is banking on status quo reversal.
