On the auto bailout and GOP Southern rump politics.
The politics of the Republican Senators over the auto bailout may presage the new face of the Republican party. Much has been made of the fact that many of these Southern Republican Senators are working for the interests of the foreign automakers in their states, but take just a minute to look at what they're giving away in this.
Admittedly, unions aren't hugely popular across vast sections of America, and the UAW is often cited as the worst of the kind, but the political geography of a perceived war on unions won't be kind to the Republican party.
If this position is perceived to be the position of the Republican party, they're looking at putting themselves into an issue hole with white working class voters across the Rustbelt and Midwest, a key determinative demographic in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Indiana, etc. These voters and regions are reachable through "culture issues," but I would wager a perception of a war on unions might shift that demographic somewhat away.
To a much smaller degree, but similarly, they're potentially setting up the same sort of conflict their anti-immigration push caused among Hispanics which has arguably cost them several states in the southwest.
Despite the fact that the Republican presidential candidate and current president both held somewhat moderate stances on immigration, the uglier side of the GOP ended up defining the public's image of the party on the issue.
So, in this bailout/union issue, I see what may be one of the first signs of Southern rump GOP politics. With no real national figures to keep an eye on the broader party interests, local politicians catering to local (predominantly southern) politics end up defining the positions of the Republican party as a whole.
This is just one example, but it may be the portrait of the next few years. How many groups will they alienate in that time?
Admittedly, unions aren't hugely popular across vast sections of America, and the UAW is often cited as the worst of the kind, but the political geography of a perceived war on unions won't be kind to the Republican party.
If this position is perceived to be the position of the Republican party, they're looking at putting themselves into an issue hole with white working class voters across the Rustbelt and Midwest, a key determinative demographic in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Indiana, etc. These voters and regions are reachable through "culture issues," but I would wager a perception of a war on unions might shift that demographic somewhat away.
To a much smaller degree, but similarly, they're potentially setting up the same sort of conflict their anti-immigration push caused among Hispanics which has arguably cost them several states in the southwest.
Despite the fact that the Republican presidential candidate and current president both held somewhat moderate stances on immigration, the uglier side of the GOP ended up defining the public's image of the party on the issue.
So, in this bailout/union issue, I see what may be one of the first signs of Southern rump GOP politics. With no real national figures to keep an eye on the broader party interests, local politicians catering to local (predominantly southern) politics end up defining the positions of the Republican party as a whole.
This is just one example, but it may be the portrait of the next few years. How many groups will they alienate in that time?
posted by mikevotes at
1:45 PM
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