There is a rumor among us that the GOP is actively attempting to forge a makeover; a fundamental alteration of strategies and tactics that inured the Party’s losses in a number of key demographic strata back on November 6, 2012. On that fateful day, AKA (also known as) Election Day, 2012, President Obama amassed an edge in numerous statistical categories, which ultimately propelled him to a win in the General Election.
It sounds good, in principle. However, as with most high-minded ideals, finding and maintaining higher ground, moral or otherwise, is “easier said than done!” Back to the real world; last week, Alaska Republican Representative Don Young took what may best be described as one humongous step “Back to the GOP Future!” During a discussion about ongoing challenges to the economy last Thursday, Republican Young referred to Hispanic workers as "wetbacks," an ethnic slur used to describe migrant workers.
In providing depth and context to his unwitting and off-putting phraseology, the Congressman told Alaska public radio station KRBD “My father had a ranch; we used to have 50-60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes. It takes two people to pick the same tomatoes now. It’s all done by machine.” Perhaps, this variety of wrong-headed Palinesque jocularity is a fundamental flaw of Alaska Republicans. But I digress. The term “wetback” is a pejorative assignation historically used to describe workers from Latin American countries who swim across the
Last fall, during the height of the Presidential Campaign, a number of gaffes, if you will, impaired Governor Romney’s ability to engineer a successful effort to wrest the Presidency from “44.” In fact, these untimely and unforced errors were a huge part of what Team GOP aimed to fix, after what by most accounts, they considered a stunning defeat in the 2012 Presidential Election.
In direct response, it has been reported that the Republican Party has executed extensive post-election polling and focus groups designed to obtain a serious and objective reading on where they stand within the framework of a changing electorate. Obviously, this is not so subtle reinforcement of that ever compelling nugget of conventional wisdom: “Hindsight is 20/20.” If only…this brainstorm had touched down before the election.
Mark McKinnon, a former strategist for George W. Bush opined, “The Republican Party needs messages and policies that appeal to a broader audience. This election proved that trying to expand a shrinking base ain’t going to cut it. It’s time to put some compassion back in conservatism. The party needs more tolerance, more diversity and a deeper appreciation for the concerns of the middle class.”
To highlight his point, even though only 39% of whites, 44% of voters older than 65, and 25% of white males voted for President Obama, he still prevailed. He did so in large measure because he won 9 of the 10 States identified as Swing States, losing only here in
1.
Florida
2.
Ohio
3.
North
Carolina
4.
Virginia
5.
Colorado
6.
Pennsylvania
7.
Iowa
8.
New
Hampshire
9.
Nevada
10.
Wisconsin
So
despite President Obama and Democrats in general finding challenging
sledding in the demographic segments for
which the GOP fought most
enthusiastically (and effectively, I might add), there was a proverbial desert
of GOP political failure within in other demographic
groups in 2012. On the way to victory, the President won an array of demographic segments, including the
dozen below:
·
Women 55%
·
Black 93%
·
Hispanic 17%
·
Asian 73%
·
Jewish 69%
·
Other 57%
·
Age 18-29 60%
·
Age 30-44 52%
·
Unmarried 67%
·
Self Identified Gay 76%
·
Under $30,000 63%
·
$30,000 - $49,000 57%
Obviously, the Republican Party has devoted a
significant amount of mental capital to contemplating
the return on investment (or lack thereof) in the politics of hate, derision, and various and sundry slurs.
Now all they need to do is get their full complement of players on board.
Congressman Young’s immediate response to the dust-up
created by his comments was not exactly rueful,
or contrition-filled. In a sit down interview with Ketchikan Radio, Representative Young said, “I
used a term that was commonly used during my days growing up on a farm in Central California .
I know this term is not used in the same way nowadays and I meant no
disrespect.” And yet, he used to the
term anyway. Mental note to the Congressman; that you “knew the word is not used in the same way
nowadays”, and yet you used it anyway…that is what most thinking people
would call, “the problem.”
In retrospect, Representative
Young’s slur is a classic example the type of devaluing of an entire ethnic
group that will make the GOP’s
efforts to recalibrate its vision and
messaging a continuing minefield,
littered with their own crass commentary and willful disregard of calls for
change, even from within their own diminishing circle. So, from my admittedly limited vantage point,
this was just another case of SOSDD; “Back to the GOP Future!”
I’m done; holla back!
Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com
or http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com.
A new post is published each Wednesday.
To subscribe, click on Follow
in the bottom right hand corner of my Home
Page at http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com;
enter your e-mail address in the designated space, and click on “Sign me
up.” Subsequent editions of “Break
It Down” will be mailed to your in-box.
For more detailed
information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult
the links below:
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2013/03/29/rep-don-young-in-hot-water-for-wetback-comment/
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment