Barack Obama's first month as president has provided fresh evidence that may help resolve one of the most vexing political questions of our day: do Republicans do what they do because they're not particularly good people or because they're not particularly smart people?
The last eight years has seen a pitched battle between these two camps. The "dumb guys" camp (mascot: George Bush) has pointed to the GOP's botched response to Hurricane Katrina, inept planning for the occupation of Iraq, counterintuitive economic policies and the embarrassing scandals in virtually every executive department as key evidence.
The "bad guys" camp (mascot: Dick Cheney) lists the administration's cold indifference to Hurricane Katrina victims, a War on Terror marked by torture and deceit, economic policies that favor greed and irresponsibility and a blatant disregard for the law in virtually every executive department to support its side.
Round one ended in a draw.
But when the latest crop of Republican losers was booted from Washington last November, the debate took an interesting turn. Now that the GOP was sharply curtailed in its ability to wreak mayhem on the country, would the party's leaders prove smart enough to finagle their way back to power and redeem the cause of malice? Or would they wallow in their own foolishness, holding true to the legacy of incompetence?
Score January and February for the dumb guys. Republicans did, admittedly, begin the year acting deceptively smart when they elected a new party chairman. Instead of choosing the bumbling racist from Tennessee, the bumbling racist from South Carolina or the incumbent who saw the party crash and burn on his watch, Republicans actually chose a respectable moderate. But Michael Steele would still let us have our fun.
After congressional Republicans voted in lockstep against a wildly popular president's wildly popular stimulus bill, Steele crowed that "the goose egg [Republicans] laid on the president's desk was just beautiful." Watching the few remaining moderate Republicans vote away their political future was beautiful indeed. Bye bye Rep. Joseph Cao, R-La.!
Steele later suggested he would support primary challenges against the Republican senators who supported the stimulus. An astonished Olympia Snowe asked, "You didn't really mean that, did you?" Oh yes he did.
And a handful of Republican governors might have really meant it when they said they would refuse stimulus money. On the one hand, this is strong evidence for those who see in the GOP only moral bankruptcy. Refusing to help the poor and unemployed in the midst of severe economic pain requires some real shamelessness. But then you recognize that all the governors pulling the gimmick have been floating their names for a 2012 presidential run. Which swings the point back to the "dumb guys" camp-taking a political stand on steamrolling unemployed people requires some real idiocy.
One of those governors - Republican Bobby Jindal from Louisiana - is a particularly special case. Hailed as the future face of the party, Jindal put on a spectacular display responding to Obama's address to Congress. Fox News pundit Juan Williams called Jindal's delivery "childish." Conservative columnist David Brooks called his arguments "insane."
In fact, the old debate may be giving way to a new one: Do Republicans not know how to claw there way back to power, or do they simply not want to? Rush Limbaugh is heralded as the party's new leader. Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R-Minn., is publicly fretting that "we're running out of rich people in this country." They really must like being the minority party.
The greatest news for Republicans hoping to stay in the opposition for many years to come? CNN recently polled Republicans to measure the early support for potential 2012 presidential candidates. In first place: Gov. Sarah Palin.
As Michael Steele would say, "This is awesome."
Jacob Shelly is a senior in the School of Public Affairs and a liberal columnist for The Eagle. You can reach him at edpage@theeagleonline.com.
