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Viguerie: Obama should thank McCain and Rove
Written by on 2008-11-05T22:25:41+00:00
Many people deserve the gratitude of Barack Obama for the roles they played in his historic victory. But there are two men whom he may have forgotten to thank. I. John McCain First, Obama should thank John McCain. If McCain had used the issues available to him, and if he had not unilaterally disarmed out of a misplaced sense of honor, he could have won in a landslide, even bearing the weight of the Bush presidency and the financial crisis. When it mattered most… McCain refused to point out that Obama is a socialist. Obama’s support for redistribution of income – socialism, in the common sense of the term – was well documented. During the Democratic primary debates, he declared that he would support tax increases for “fairness” even if they resulted in less revenue for the government – in other words, even if they hurt the economy. And, of course, there was the interview he gave years ago in which he regretted that the Supreme Court had not pursued redistributionism. Yet it took Joe the Plumber to raise the issue. By then, it was too late. McCain refused to raise the issue of Obama’s partnerships with hatemongers. In the spring, when some Republicans tried to highlight the fact that Obama was a member of a church led by a racist, anti-American hatemonger – the Rev. Jeremiah Wright – McCain declared the matter off-limits. So, when it turned out that Obama had launched his political career as a partner of Bill Ayers – a terrorist bomber who dedicated one of his books to the assassin of Robert Kennedy – many people refused to believe it. Likewise, Obama’s affiliations with other Marxists and assorted crooks and kooks seemed like smears simply because the McCain campaign raised the issue too late. McCain refused to run as a conservative. He thought he would be the candidate of bipartisanship, of reaching across the aisle to work with his opponents, or ‘moderation’ in a year in which the voters wanted dramatic change. He thought he would pick up votes in the Northeast; he didn’t. He thought he would pick up votes in the suburbs; he didn’t. He thought he would pick up Latino votes; he didn’t. In the closing weeks, McCain mostly highlighted the ideological differences between himself and his opponent, but, again, it was too late. Instead of moderation and bipartisanship, people voted for the country’s most liberal Senator and the fourth most partisan. McCain refused to free himself from the restrictions of taxpayer financing. Ideologically committed to campaign finance “reform” (as it is called, ironically), McCain kept his promise to fill his campaign coffers by ripping off taxpayers, and accepted the limitations that come with accepting that money. That gave Obama, who broke his own promise, a massive financial advantage that McCain could never overcome. McCain refused to lead the fight against the Wall Street bailout. McCain almost cancelled a debate, so that he could rush to Washington to “deal with” the financial crisis (without any plan or idea of his own). Yet, when the people needed a champion, he supported the bailout that would threaten America’s financial future. Imagine if he had led the charge against the bailout, and against Obama for supporting it. II. Karl Rove Second, President-elect Obama should repeat the words of President Bush at his victory rally four years ago: “I want to thank ‘the Architect,’ Karl Rove.” Because Rove is the Architect of the Obama victory. Karl Rove was the brains behind the Bush strategy of Big Government Republicanism – the Medicare prescription drug benefit that will help bankrupt future generations, the federalization of education, massive deficits, rampant pork-barrel spending, and so on. In the end, it was the Wall Street bailout – and all the other bailouts and “stimulus packages” that will flow from the Wall Street bailout – that was the last gasp of Big Government Republicanism, and that killed McCain’s chances. New Comment |
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