Politics As Football

Back many years ago, when I was in high school, if you played football, you played both sides of the ball. For those that have never heard that phrase, it means you played offense and defense. If you were one of the better players, you spent a long time on the field. It was grueling. You had to keep the playbook simple because playing both sides was a lot to learn in a short time.

Today, the Republicans are still playing politics the way we used to play football. While each of them tries to play both offense and defense, they don't do it well. Although they are not perfect, they do a better defense. They attack liberal over-reach with passion. They are weak on explanation of where liberal plans fall apart.

In today's football, you have an offense, a defense, and special teams. This is the model that the Republicans should follow. It is a model for waging war. And today's politics have become a war. There is no longer even a pretense of collegiality. 

Democrats, today, have a very harsh defense that, if they can't destroy the policy, they will do all that they can to destroy the person. They do this with the skill of a professional assassin. Think about what they did to Judge Bork. They have an offense made up of people speaking soothingly to the mostly uninformed, promising that the nanny government will take care of all their needs in exchange for their vote. Think Obama phones. They also have special teams made up of talking heads that hit the weekend talk shows, extolling the virtues of those kindly liberal policies and the inveterate evil that is represented by the Republicans.

That is modern politics. Specialize. Don't try to be all things to all people. Get the best speakers and get them in front of cameras. Get the people that think on their feet fastest out to all the weekend talk shows. Stifle the RINOS. They do more harm to the Republican brand than the Democrats do. Respect is important, but this is not church, it is politics. And finally, remember, negotiation is not doing what the Democrats want you to do.