The Prospects for the GOP in 2016

Friends, despite what the lamestream media has
been saying about the Republican Party's chances
of winning the White House in November the GOP
actually has a wonderful chance to send a Republican
to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue --- if they don't get
stupid.

What your mildly optimistic Peasant means is that
the following factors will likely work in favor of the
GOP: one, it is quite difficult to win the presidency
three straight times. The Democrat Party has not
achieved this feat since the days of  four-term winner
Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1940s; the Republicans
last pulled it off in 1992 when they got George H.W.
Bush elected after Ronald Reagan's second and final
term. Neither party has been able to accomplish this
with any notable frequency. The Republicans were able
to succeed in 1992 because of the success and popularity
of President Reagan and his economic policies, while
the Democrats will be lumbered by the dismal results
of President Obama's economic (not to mention his other)
policies. The Democrats will be starting with a tremen-
dous disadvantage.

Two, Obama and his policies are highly unpopular with
much of the electorate and it's no wonder; the economy is
now in the seventh year of the worst economic recovery in
decades, with stagnant incomes except for the wealthiest
Americans (so much for the Democrat Party being the
party of the "little guy"!). Also a factor is the growing
anxiety over growing global chaos exacerbated by the
rising terrorist threat. And Russia's head of state Vladimir
Putin has twisted Obama around his little finger over
this, along with the Middle East in general, not to mention
on its military occupation of Ukraine.

Three, the most likely Democrat to be their party's nominee,
Hillary Clinton, has dark and heavy baggage to carry into
the November election, what with Benghazi, her e-mail
scandal, her husband the former president and, as some
wags put it, the former Philanderer-in-Chief, and the vicious
way that Hillary had gone after the women who came forward
with accusations of sexual assault against Bill --- this from a
woman who once stated in a speech that women who have
been victims of sexual assault have a right to be heard and
believed. Sure thing, Hill, except when the accused is Bill,
right? Moreover, the former First Lady cannot mask her
discomfort with the public when she goes campaigning,
acting as if she would contract some disease if she were to
rub elbows with one of the everyday Americans who don't
have the billions of dollars, the opulent homes, and the
many other fancy trappings of wealth that the Clintons
enjoy. Psssst, Hill, your elitism is showing! She was
supposed to be the annointed candidate of the Dems in 2008,
with political observers of all stripes thought her party's
nomination was hers to lose, and damned if they weren't right!
Lose it she did, with many gaffes and her ever-present
looks of disgust with the Great Unwashed at her campaign
stops. She could blow the general election in similar
fashion.

The Republicans can win, but they must choose a nominee
who can exploit the Democrats' many weaknesses while uniting
the party's divided factions to ensure party unity. Everyone
who calls themselves a Republican or a conservative has to be
motivated to turn out to vote! Moreover, they have to improve
their messaging skills so as to draw the contrast between
themselves and the Democrats, and not allow them to define
the GOP, their candidate, and their message. The Republicans
have to define the Democrats and maintain control of their
message if they are to be victorious in November. They must
also realize and internalize the urgency to win, knowing full
well that this may prove the last opportunity to reclaim our
country from the radicalism of the Democrats lest the United
States be irreversibly transformed into a socialistic wasteland.
There is precious little margin for error, and failure is not an
option.


MEM