CENTRAL VIEW for Monday, November 8, 2010

Election 2010: The GOP gets a second chance

George Bernard Shaw famously said, “Second marriages are the triumph of hope over experience.” The recent national repudiation of what the Democrats have done since taking control of both houses of Congress in 2006 and taking control of the White House in 2008, provides conservatives a “second chance” to do what they tried to do back in 1994 when the Contract with America was thwarted, in part, by then Democrat President Bill Clinton.

Recall, after the GOP took control of the House for the first time in 40 years, President Clinton was forced to sign welfare-reform bill legislation. Moreover, Clinton began to govern more from the Center and less from the Left. That shift from Left toward the Center, despite Monica Lewinsky, elevated Clinton’s place in history above that of the hopelessly-failed Jimmy Carter.

Last week, House Democrats paid an enormous price for passing the ObamaCare bill which few, if any, of them read before passage. In the U.S. House, Republicans gained a whopping majority and won just enough U.S. Senate seats to thwart any further moves by the Democrats toward Mussolini-style corporate-socialism.

But, between now and January, 2011, Democrats retain control both houses of Congress and the White House. The Democrats could choose to do nothing. Or, the Democrats could choose to ram through minor pieces of legislation they know will be so obnoxious that the Republicans will be tied up during 2011 and 2012 trying to pick the Democrat fly specks out of the legislative porridge.

Polls tell us Americans want the two major political parties to work together. But with the Democrat Party solidly under the control of the socially- and fiscally-liberal Left, and armed with the intimidating muscle and money of the labor unions plus the grass-roots power of the teachers unions, the Democrat play book does not call for playing nice-nice with the Republicans. Disorder serves the Democrats, compromise does not.

Meanwhile, the GOP must get its internal house in order. Hopefully, the Republicans-in-name-only -- the RINOs in both the House and the Senate -- have gotten the message to stop voting like liberals and vote like the Tea Party conservatives who, in large measure, are responsible for making Speaker Nancy Pelosi give “her” Boeing 757 back to the U.S. Air Force.

Moreover, many Americans do not care about the anti-colonialism Mr. Obama holds in his heart because of the experiences of his African-American and/or Muslim forbearers in Kenya and Indonesia. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says Mr. Obama’s conduct of American foreign policy cannot be comprehended unless you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior. “That is the most accurate, predictive model for his behavior,” said Gingrich.

Yes, the old British Empire was oppressive to the Kenyans. Yes, the Dutch oil companies once ruled Indonesia with an iron fist. That was then. This is now.

Mr. Obama needs to get that anti-colonial, anti-Anglo, anti-American Exceptionalism chip off his shoulder. Great Britain abolished slavery long before President Lincoln did so. Mr. Obama needs to tout America as the nation that has been called to defend freedom around the globe time and time again. Unique among world powers, America has never once imposed any permanent claims on those nations we have rescued from tyrannical invaders. We have only asked for a few acres in which to bury our honored dead. On Veterans Day, we should remember them.

Meanwhile, the global derrière -kisser-in-chief is off in India and the Far East lavishly spending enormous amounts of money from the Federal Reserve’s latest Ponzi scheme which is to borrow even more money from ourselves to pay off debt we already cannot repay, causing the printing of more money which, overtime, will force currency markets to de-value the dollar. In January, the GOP should use its “second chance” to arrest the fall of the dollar.

Nationally syndicated columnist, William Hamilton, was educated at the University of Oklahoma, the George Washington University, the U.S Naval War College, the University of Nebraska, and Harvard University.

©2010. William Hamilton.

Dr. Hamilton can be contacted at:

Email: william@central-view.com