podfish
03-08-2017, 07:59 AM
Not a connection I'd made before:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/opinion/why-republicans-cant-do-health-care.html
Which brings us back to Trump’s resemblance to Jimmy Carter, who presided over a party suffering a similar crisis of belief. The political-science schema that makes the two men comparable figures is more compelling as history than as prophecy: It tells us how Trump could fail; it doesn’t tell us that he necessarily will. A strong-enough, savvy-enough, effective-enough president, placed in the transitional role that Carter occupied, could become transformative rather than disjunctive, and build a new ideological majority amid the rubble of the old.
And Trump does have a few of the necessary qualities. On policy he is incurious yet also more politically savvy than the party’s congressional leaders, more attuned to where his own voters and the country stands. His “workers party” is a more compelling vision for the right’s future than either status quo bias or “tax cuts plus nothing” zeal. With focus, attention and the judicious use of the bully pulpit, he could potentially bigfoot all the right’s ideological factions. Instead of tepidly embracing legislation that doesn’t come close to fulfilling his campaign promises, he could force his party to accept a bill that makes more political sense — be it the more redistributive plan advanced by conservatives like Avik Roy (https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2017/03/07/house-gops-obamacare-replacement-will-make-coverage-unaffordable-for-millions-otherwise-its-great/#54d95b5437fd), or the federalist compromise (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/opinion/repeal-and-compete.html) floated by Republican Senators Bill Cassidy and Susan Collins.
Alas, as anyone on Twitter is regularly reminded, focus, attention and judiciousness are all qualities that this disjunctive president lacks. Which is why, even though nothing is inevitable, the Carter precedent — a majority wasted and then lost — looms as this administration’s most likely destination.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/opinion/why-republicans-cant-do-health-care.html
Which brings us back to Trump’s resemblance to Jimmy Carter, who presided over a party suffering a similar crisis of belief. The political-science schema that makes the two men comparable figures is more compelling as history than as prophecy: It tells us how Trump could fail; it doesn’t tell us that he necessarily will. A strong-enough, savvy-enough, effective-enough president, placed in the transitional role that Carter occupied, could become transformative rather than disjunctive, and build a new ideological majority amid the rubble of the old.
And Trump does have a few of the necessary qualities. On policy he is incurious yet also more politically savvy than the party’s congressional leaders, more attuned to where his own voters and the country stands. His “workers party” is a more compelling vision for the right’s future than either status quo bias or “tax cuts plus nothing” zeal. With focus, attention and the judicious use of the bully pulpit, he could potentially bigfoot all the right’s ideological factions. Instead of tepidly embracing legislation that doesn’t come close to fulfilling his campaign promises, he could force his party to accept a bill that makes more political sense — be it the more redistributive plan advanced by conservatives like Avik Roy (https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2017/03/07/house-gops-obamacare-replacement-will-make-coverage-unaffordable-for-millions-otherwise-its-great/#54d95b5437fd), or the federalist compromise (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/opinion/repeal-and-compete.html) floated by Republican Senators Bill Cassidy and Susan Collins.
Alas, as anyone on Twitter is regularly reminded, focus, attention and judiciousness are all qualities that this disjunctive president lacks. Which is why, even though nothing is inevitable, the Carter precedent — a majority wasted and then lost — looms as this administration’s most likely destination.