The New Southern Strategy

I've never been fond of the "If you are/aren't blank, then you have to be blank" formulation. As in, if you're not for the war in Iraq, then you hate the troops. Probably because even though I was raised in a liberal, reality-based home, my grandparents were the extinct variety of republicans who could hate both FDR and Nixon for entirely rational reasons in both cases.

But as Smirky made crystal clear in so many concrete ways, it's us vs. them, and if you're not one of us, you're one of them.

Them, in this case, being Obama-haters, who are, ipso facto, racists.

No, I'm not talking about those of us on the left throwing brickbats because the president hasn't closed Guantanamo or repealed DADT and DOMA, or put an end to Smirky/Darth secrecy or fulfilled any of his many other campaign promises. I'm not talking about the independents and moderates who aren't happy with the slow pace of health care reform or the jobless recovery or the trillions in tax money Wall Street snorted and then flushed.

I'm talking about the haters: the people who could personally witness President Obama make every one of their dearest wishes and wildest dreams come true before their eyes, and still hate him. Just because of who he is: a nigger who stole the White House.

Eric Kleefield reviewed the evidence yesterday.

Today, Steve M. considers how the GOP could possibly consider such blatant racism to be a winning strategy.

This is clearly the party line right now.

But isn't this a terrible strategy for the GOP? Isn't the population becoming less white? Isn't the white population becoming less racist, as evidenced by the success of a black presidential candidate?

Well, it's possible that the GOP isn't looking and further than the 2010 election. It's going to be a midterm election, and Barack Obama won't be on the ballot. If whites -- especially angry whites -- make up a greater percentage of the 2010 electorate, the Republicans assume they'll win. It's the Pat Buchanan strategy.

But don't voters, even angry white voters, want actual solutions to America's problems, not angry rhetoric? I think Republicans are skeptical of that conventional wisdom. They clearly don't feel the need to present a health-care plan of their own -- why would they think they need to present solutions to any of the nation's other problems? Look: it's a two-party system. If you get enough people angry at Obama and the Democrats, where are they going to go? They don't really have a hell of a lot of choices.

Regarding Hispanics, Republicans clearly feel they can't pursue the Bush-Rove strategy of outreach -- sooner or later it would require them to have a policy on immigration other than "Deport 'em all and seal the borders." And any deviation from that infuriates the base.

And GOP outreach to African-Americans never works (for reasons that seem to baffle Republicans).

So the strategy is: make Obama and the Democrats unpopular, keep the base fired up and donating, and then be the only alternative.

Read the whole thing.

Cross-posted at They Gave Us A Republic ....