There was a scene in Bad News Bears in which Amanda (Tatum O’Neil) turns to Coach Buttermaker (Walter Matthau) and says, “I know an 11 year old girl who is already on the pill!” followed by a deathly stare from Buttermaker, who ordered her to not “ever say that word again!”
If Republicans lose the general election this fall, it wont be because they were beat by President Obama, but rather because they beat themselves.
This coming election is an important one. It is a fight for the survival of the pre-Obama America, and a chance for the Republican Party to halt, and possibly reverse the Europeanization of the country. However, it seems that some conservatives aren’t up for this fight, or any others for that matter.
On issues such as the economy, where GOP can hammer the President forcefully with his abysmal approval rating on economics, conservatives are more than willing to take an aggressive stance against the President. But on other things, like social issues, the Republican Party cowers in the corner.
President Obama thought that he could rope the Republicans into a discussion about contraception by bringing it back into the national debate. A smart move by the President.
Many are claiming that by speaking openly about the issue of contraception, Rick Santorum is handing President Obama a political victory. Quite the contrary, since Santorum is getting the chance to explain to the American people exactly what this issue is about: more freedom being taken away from the American people by the government.
Obama would like to make contraception a national debate, only because he thinks that the Republicans will respond by opposing on moral grounds, leaving the President and media to label the GOP as women-haters plucked from Pleasantville. This translates to victory for the Democrats. This can be just as much a victory-claiming moment for the Republicans though, if they stick to their guns and address the real implications of the White House’s stand on the funding of contraceptives.
Contrary to what Bill Maher might tell you, the Republicans have Americans on their side in the contraception debate. Half of the country, to be exact. There are a large number of Americans who completely agree with Santorum on this particular issue, more specifically. Even if the Republicans were in the minority they have no excuse for backing away waving the white flag. As Ann Coulter pointed out in her latest column, the contraception issue is about freedom, not drugs.
Whether or not contraception is moral is not and should never be an election issue. But this debate isn’t about contraception, it is about government control.
The real question is: should the government be able to demand that the church provide contraception? Or should the government be able to demand that states pay for contraception? The answer is no to both of these questions, and Republicans should not be afraid to say it.
When Piers Morgan asked Rick Santorum about the issue, he responded by saying “How do I feel about the issue of contraception? It should be available. I object to it when the federal government says that religious organizations that feel the way the Catholic Church feels should be required to provide it. I think that’s an infringement upon their religious liberties.” Which is the perfect answer, since this is a debate about government power, not if contraception is right or wrong.
Mitt Romney has labeled the Obama policy as an attack on religion, which he will fight against as President. While the policy is a subtle attack on the Catholic Church, its intentions are more totalitarian than they are secular. Romney believes if he can label the President as being “anti-religion”, the Republicans could manage to come out of this scuffle on top. This could also be a winning strategy, considering there are more Americans who call themselves Christians than not. Tim Tebow is not more popular that Romney, Santorum, and Obama for no reason.
The problem is that the media, with the exception of Fox News, is in the tank for President Obama yet again this election season, and will push this debate as the “contraception debate” not the “government power debate”. On both issues, Obama loses, but on the latter, Obama loses big. They will do all they can to make sure that everybody thinks Republicans hate conception and want it banned. Oh, and they hate women too!
The Democrats are hoping that the Republicans take their bait, but they are also afraid that they are going to play political jujitsu, and turn the issue back on the Democrats in a way that would be tough to defend. An argument about government control is not one that Obama wants to get into. The debate about contraception would be a lot better, since he will have the media on his side to make the Republican party look like the Caveman party.
Behind every liberal policy is government control, even when it comes to social issues. This is where they are most vulnerable, and this is where the Republican candidates need to hit the current President the hardest. The American people are sick of being told what to do. They are sick of big government, and they want someone to untangle the Obama spider web that has left them with ropes and chains instead of hope and change.
The candidate that is able to point that out is the one who will be most successful not just in getting the nomination, but winning the White House.
