Swans Commentary » swans.com January 31, 2011  

 

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by Jan Baughman

 

A Cartoon

 

 

(Swans - January 31, 2011)  

 

In his 2011 State of the Union address, President Obama made every effort to regain the support of his base; borrowed from the Tea Party agenda with a call for smaller, more efficient government; and continued his plea for bipartisanship, even masterfully bringing the otherwise smirking and squirming John Boehner to tears with a shout-out to his working-class roots. Yet he might as well stop wasting time on the bipartisan dream -- the cameras were barely off the president and the historically mixed-up Congress when the Republicans and Tea Partiers returned to work to ensure that he is a one-termer. And they've found just the man to lead their cause...

You've got to hand it to the GOP -- they keep trying to reinvent themselves in response to the country's changing demographics to expand their otherwise white, blue-blooded American base. All it takes is the right leader! Their experiment with Michael Steele was disastrous -- they shut him out before he even set foot in the door. So after a bizarre "debate" between a group of even more bizarre candidates -- a debate full of litmus tests, one-upsmanship on gun ownership, and leading questions like "Aside from President Reagan, who is your favorite political hero?" -- the Republican National Committee elected one Reince Priebus to become the name and face of the conservative agenda. But before their new leader can become a household name, that name has to roll off the tongue: Reince (rhymes with "pints" -- as he puts it, "...like pints of his favorite beer, Wisconsin's own Miller High Life") PREE-bus.

Preebus (the man, not the name) is as American as Wisconsin apple pie; a progeny of the historically-endearing melting pot that built this country. He professes the required values of the Republican Party -- gun-loving, abortion-hating, gay-marriage-fearing, and (modern-day)-immigrant-bashing. But if a black man with a pronounceable name cannot lead the RNC to the White House, can a white man "with a Greek and a German" as parents and a name that rivals "Barack Obama" succeed? Expect Reince Priebus's campaign to ratchet up the attacks on President Obama -- a Muslim, non-American Socialist with a Kenyan father and a forged birth certificate... After all, if he doesn't outperform his predecessor, he'll be just another forgotten name, pronounceable or otherwise, in the dustbin of dirty politics.

 

 

 

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About the Author

Jan Baughman on Swans -- with bio. She is Swans co-editor.   (back)

 

 

Other Cartoons by Jan Baughman

 

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Patterns which Connect

America the 'beautiful'

 

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