18 November 2012 By Saeed Qureshi
The prime reason for the
Republican Party's defeat in 2012 presidential
election was the negative genre of politics and
issueless strategies they took to. Their overriding
aim was to oust a black president as well as to
safeguard the special interest groups and the
wealthiest by way of fewer taxes and more perks.
They projected themselves
to be pro war, anti-immigrants, pro-privileged classes
and indifferent to the middle and lower middle
sections of the population. They discounted and
derided 47 per cent population mostly downtrodden and
poor as was revealed from a secret conversation of the
Republican nominee Mitt Romney.
Mitt Romney relied mostly
on generalization of his perceptions and the mandate
that he wanted to put in place to bring about a change
for a better America. He mostly dwelt on his five
points that he had crammed. But he was vague and would
be short of offering minute details and the modus
operandi for their result-oriented implementation.
He projected himself to be
an economic wizard capable of buoying up America from
fiscal quagmire it is stuck into. But he was far from
being candid with regard to reduction or enhancement
of taxes and also spending cuts. While he would talk
in a roundabout method of cutting the spending, yet in
contrast, he was wont to increase the defense budget
by 2 trillion dollars.
The Republicans lost female
voters by denying them the right to abortion and
contraceptives to for health reasons or to not have a
child because of the rape. The Republicans made it a
moral issue, for being conservative or Catholics. That
also cut across the individual liberty and freedom of
choice by women to bear a child or not. This issue was
in fact of a very serious import and on this even a
chunk of the conservative women among the white
population supported democrats. Some of the
unscrupulous and imprudent Republican politicians even
supported rape by defining it as some kind of
legitimate rape, a term that was despicably offensive
and stinking
The Republicans lost
majority of Latinos, the young students, the veterans,
the black segments.
The overwhelming number of
the Muslim immigrants voted for Obama because he was
perceived by them to be much less antagonistic and
biased than his Republican rival and his party.
Also the Asians, the
Africans, the immigrants from the Middle East and
elsewhere favored the Democratic Party for its
liberal, non-discriminating and rather pro immigration
profile.
The extra unwanted baggage
came in the garb of such media showy figures as Rush
Limbah, Karl Rove of Georg Bush fame, Hannity, Glenn
Beck and Jack Cafferty. They were highly biased,
irrational and with their passion driven predictions
poured venom on Obama specifically and the Democratic
party generally.
The support and publicity
of these anchors and analysts for the Republican Party
created negative rather than positive persuasions for
the voters. Moreover the Tea Party that anchors its
political philosophy on race and color also proved to
be a liability rather than an asset for the Republican
candidate as their stance ran counter to the spirit of
America and its constitution.
In foreign policy domain,
Mitt Romney projected him to be immature and less
conversant with the international affairs. He was
categorically against China and most of the Middle
East, wanted an immediate war against Iran, send army
in Syria and thus re-engage United Sates in fresh
wars. He seemed to be possessing perfunctory knowledge
about the world at large and the imperative of
lessening global tensions and removing dangerous
flashpoints via appeasements than exacerbating these.
Internationally, Europe
mostly was in favor of Obama's' re-election. Israel
that the myopic observers believed was opposed to
Obama's second term was in fact supportive of him.
Although Romney dashed to Israel to curry favor with
Israel and Jewish lobbies within United States, yet
the leadership of Israel was more sagacious that what
Mitt Romney envisaged. A rational American president
was more desirable for Israel than an unreasonable
sycophant.
Finally the Republican
stalwarts were complacent and took it for granted that
they would win the elections. The volunteers and
election corps of the Diplomatic Party were more
committed, fired and motivated. They reached voters
through emails, in person, by holding corner or indoor
meetings and dropping leaflets in the houses. That
missionary zeal made a lot of difference in molding
public opinion in favor of president Obama.
Unfortunately the overall
image of Republic Party has been that its role during
the last four years has been that of an
obstructionist. That it legislated only as a parochial
party, in favor of minority of privileged and
wealthiest segments of America. That it whips
conservatism not supported by the secular American
constitution and Bills of Rights. That it stands more
for the supremacy of the white and Caucasian races and
less for the racial and ethnic equality of the
Americans as a cohesive nation. The Republican
leadership has to undergo a soul searching and a
rigorous process of catharsis to shed aberrations that
overshadow its stature as a national party. Comments 💬 التعليقات |
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