By: Ronnie Kurtz
We Built It
Hard to miss those signs plastered around the Republican National Convention that just wrapped up in Tampa. It certainly sounds like a good motto for the Republicans, doesn’t it? A constant reminder of perhaps Obama’s worst “gaffe” of his first term, the phrase drives home the Republican ideals: it was the hard work of Americans that built this nation, built our businesses and our homes, and it will be the hard work of Americans that gets us out of this mess. The President doesn’t understand that, this motto says, and the Republicans hope to guide America back to the principles that made us great. Powerful, powerful stuff.
Except that this motto flies in the face of everything the Republicans have been saying at the Convention. Let’s start at the beginning, with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s keynote address:
We win when we make it about what needs to be done; we lose when we play along with their game of scaring and dividing.
Well, that doesn’t bode well for the Republicans. Because that is exactly what that motto does. It takes an isolated part of a long, drawn out speech (as a good friend put it, a “wildly out of context platitude”) and uses it to drive a rift between us. Go ahead, try and talk to an Obama supporter about the statement that inspired the motto. You’re more likely to get a bunch of four letter words and insults thrown at you than a substantive discussion on corporate tax rates. This motto makes us choose sides, as either a ‘Merican if you’re with the GOP or a heartless communist if you’re against them. It’s this mindset that has brought our Congressional system to a screeching halt, that has pundits putting crosshairs on maps of contested districts and news talk radio analysts talking about their President like he’s public enemy #1.
But the fun didn’t stop with Christie. What about Paul Ryan?
A lot of guys I went to high school with worked at that GM plant. Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said: “I believe that if our government is there to support you … this plant will be here for another hundred years.” That’s what he said in 2008.
Well, as it turned out, that plant didn’t last another year. It is locked up and empty to this day.
The vice presidential nominee has taken considerable flack for this part of his convention address, as it pretty much insinuates that the plant that decided to close in June 2008 did so on account of Obama’s policies. But Ryan is not shying down from his statement:
The point is this is a story of the Obama economy. A man running for president in 2008 making all these grand promises and then none of them occurring.
Doesn’t that seem similar to the refrain Obama has repeated in response to his gaffe? That it was simply something taken out of context from a bigger message? Sorry, but something seems wrong about crafting your motto from such a moment and then having one yourself on the biggest stage. I’ll be looking for the “We Didn’t Close It” signs at the Democratic National Convention this Monday.
The Republicans, with all their talk about family, seem to have forgotten what their mothers told them when they were boys: actions speak louder words. Their words about unity and promise are being drowned out by the same tactics of division. They are playing Obama’s game. A presidential nominee should stand on his own, have a platform that is blind to the opponent and powerful enough to combat any ideas. This presidential platform is all about ousting Obama, and nothing else. The Republican base hears what it wants to hear but the rest of us are left wondering if we’ll ever see what we want to see. Instead of seeing the strong leaders with the gumption to make the tough decisions that we keep hearing about, we are left with misleading rhetoric and a motto that is about as childish as those Obama memes that circulate on Facebook.
No matter what happens on November 6th, let us hope that November 7th will be the start of a new chapter in American politics.
