22 January 2009

Where's the outrage and anger

from the GOP ? (via Instapundit )

This had crossed my mind, but I hadn't really checked into it. Talk radio has certainly been fairly bombastic, but that's what they do. In particular I haven't heard of any Republican politicians or activists bemoaning the election results or our new president. Arguably, conservatives are less activist and more likely to support their candidates quietly when it's appropriate - during elections - but to accept and respect the results of the election. Maybe, maybe not. Either way, there hasn't seemed to be the same reaction from conservatives this year as there was from liberals after the last two elections.

2 comments:

Glenn Gruber said...

Tom, do you think the reaction hasn't been the same because of the 61% disapproval rate of the guy who left and the great amount of optimism that Obama has inspired in the US and around the world?

But let's not assume that Republicans are just nicer or more polite than Dems. I think a lot of it has to do with the extreme amount of grace that John McCain has shown and others have followed. But the elbows on John Boehner, Mitch McConnel and others are as sharp as anyone's on the Hill.

I do hope that Obama can use the honeymoon period to try to create a wave of bi-partisanship, but we'll see. At least he seems to be governing to the middle (as evidenced by many of his Cabinet selections and other appointments). And I do believe that the level of tranparency he's trying to bring to government can be sustained and works to regain the trust of the American people.

tom said...

Glenn, let me be clear that I hope Obama does well and disproves every reservation I've had about him.

I do think there's a liberal bias to most of the media and I think that has a lot to do with the tone now versus the last two elections.

I also agree that Obama HAS inspired a great deal of optimism and that contributes as well.

Unfortunately - as the Chinese(?) curse goes - I think Obama will experience 'interesting times' over his term in office, and I sincerely hope he can maintain that optimism through the challenges to come.

I know that everyone is talking about transparency and that's a buzzword. I certainly hope that we can get more transparency in Congress and maybe cut some of the pork. But I don't necessarily think that transparency is good for every aspect of government. The president doesn't necessarily need to share every piece of data he receives or every strategy he plans.