DON’T BLAME OBAMA FOR GOP FIX
Note to Jeb Bush and Republicans: Trump is your fault, now man up
Donald Trump is moving his presidential campaign in a new, more Trumpish direction: More nationalist, populist, freewheeling, spontaneous. What could possibly go wrong?
To all those Republicans who feel they might be about to have heart attacks, no matter how much you may wish it so, this is not President Obama’s fault.
It is standard practice among members of the Republican elite to falsely blame Obama for Trump’s rise. One of the most ironic entries comes from former Florida governor Jeb Bush. “Eight years of the divisive tactics of President Obama and his allies have undermined Americans’ faith in politics and government to accomplish anything constructive,” he wrote in a recent Wash
ington Post column. Yet Obama’s approval rating, as he nears the end of his two terms, is more than 50%. George W. Bush’s approval rating at about the same point was half that. When Bush became president in 2001 (according to Gallup), about 60% of Americans trusted their government to do what is right. When Bush turned the presidency over to Obama, public trust had declined to 20%.
INCOMPETENCE
Republicans Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush were competent and (arguably) excellent presidents. But the incompetence of George W. Bush is largely why Americans are disillusioned.
The U.S. suffered the multiple attacks of 9/11, then Bush led America into wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and failed to track down Osama bin Laden, who killed 3,000 people on U.S. soil in one day. Obama was the one who authorized the successful mission ridding us of bin Laden.
Bush inherited a federal budget surplus of $128 billion in 2001, but he left office in early 2009 with a deficit spiraling past $1 trillion. Meanwhile, unemployment skyrocketed from 4% to 8% and kept rising for much of Obama’s first year. Now, after two terms of his policies, we’re finally below 5% again.
In 2001, we had 8 million undocumented immigrants. When Bush left office, we had 12 million (which is about where it remains). In the GOP’s fantasy world, however, undocumented immigrants are Obama’s fault.
Jeb Bush’s column blamed Obama for divisive and nasty politics. How hollow that claim appears when one recalls the GOP's unfounded attacks in 2004 on Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry’s military service record. Kerry had earned a Bronze Star, a Silver Star and three Purple Hearts, while George W. Bush — like Trump — had gotten nowhere near a combat zone. The GOP’s treatment of Kerry set the precedent for Trump’s cruel attacks on the sacrifices made by Sen. John McCain and the Gold Star Khan family.
THE BETTER SALESMAN
The Republicans have spent the past eight years blocking Obama’s proposals and nominations, and undercutting the legitimacy of our democracy. When Obama decisively won the 2012 election, they threw a temper tantrum that brought our country to the brink of an unprecedented default on government debt.
Trump himself was a menace to our democracy back in 2011 and 2012, spreading false rumors that Obama was a Kenyan-born Muslim holding office only because of some vast conspiracy. But GOP leaders were happy to countenance Trump then.
After a decade of such lies and aspersions from conservative media and political figures, the party couldn’t derail the Trump train. The real tragedy is that Trump differed from other GOP candidates, mostly in degree. Rick Santorum suggested building an expensive barrier on the U.S.Mexico border, while Trump claimed he’d build a wall and get Mexico to pay for it. Jeb Bush spoke against multiculturalism and said people who overstayed their visas should be asked politely to leave. Trump proposed a roundup and deportation of undocumented immigrants, and claimed Mexico was sending us rapists and drug dealers.
Obama didn’t solve all the problems he inherited, and his policies should be discussed and, if necessary, replaced. But let’s be clear: Republicans left Obama a mess. And instead of becoming a party of competent conservatism, they opted for eight years of obstructionism, made-up facts and wishful thinking. In the process, the GOP has become increasingly dependent on gerrymandering, voter suppression and fomenting the racial divisiveness it purports to object to — all to stay in office.
Republicans created Trump. They should take responsibility and fix their party.