Failure™ Magazine

Failure of the Year 2008

The Republican Party.

Written by Jason Zasky   Filed under History

In a year filled with spectacular failures, nothing failed more spectacularly than the Republican Party. Weighed down by eight years of Bush rule, a never-ending stream of scandals, and a presidential candidate who didn’t seem particularly excited about becoming president, the Republican Party lost not just its base, but the presidential election and seats in both houses of Congress, not to mention the confidence of the country.

Making matters worse, the Republican Party shamelessly abandoned its values. Not only did Republicans disavow their leader (George W. Bush), they pressured presidential candidate John McCain into supporting far-right positions he had previously opposed, thereby destroying his political integrity.

Meanwhile, the win-at-all-costs mentality of Republican strategists led to the adoption of an overridingly negative and cynical campaign strategy—one that attempted to demonize Barack Obama by portraying him as a terrorist and someone without a U.S. birth certificate. Even more shameful is that McCain and his campaign (with a handful of exceptions) tacitly endorsed calls for violence against Obama by failing to discourage rally goers who shouted “off with his head” and the like.

However, the most irresponsible decision of the year was McCain’s choice of running mate, Sarah Palin, who was painfully unqualified and neither the reformer nor maverick she purported to be. From her very first public appearance it was clear the self-proclaimed “hockey mom” was in over her head, and although handlers bent over backwards to hide her intellectual shortcomings from the American people, she was ultimately exposed as being totally unprepared to be vice-president.

Not only did a large percentage of the population find the prospect of Palin as vice-president (never mind president) downright frightening, McCain’s unpredictable choice and unwavering defense of his running mate called into question his decision-making and whether he’d be a steady, reliable leader in these uncertain times.

Perhaps this explains the sense of relief that came over both sides immediately following Obama’s decisive victory in the election. Democrats were relieved that Americans finally punished Republicans for the failures of the past eight years. Republicans took comfort in the fact that they would soon have the opportunity to refine their platform and rebuild their Party, free from the weight of the public’s disapproval of the Bush Administration and its policies.

Now the question is: How the Republican Party will conduct itself in the wake of this historic defeat? Will it stay negative and continue in its effort to demonize Obama, or will Republicans work hand-in-hand with Democrats to help the U.S. regain its moral authority and standing in the world (not to mention improve our fortunes here at home)? Will it continue to define its policies in a narrow and exclusionary fashion, or will it embrace more tolerant, centrist positions that shepherd independent and undecided voters in its direction?

If nothing else, the Republican Party needs to re-brand itself, because it is not a national party, having essentially abandoned both the northeast and the states on the west coast, with Palin going so far as to imply that certain parts of the country are “un-American.”

Even in a best case scenario, it figures to take several years before the American people regain confidence in the Republican Party’s ability to govern. And if Obama succeeds in getting the country back on the right track, Republicans are likely to remain in the minority for eight years or more.

As Rep. Tom Davis (R-Virginia) succinctly put it in a May 2008 memo to Party leadership: “The Republican brand is in the trash can. I’ve often observed that if we were a dog food, they would take us off the shelf.” That’s exactly what American voters did in 2008. And deservedly so.