Win, then Govern

Do you sometimes believe that there's more to more than meets the eye with some television icons? That may be the case with Pat Sajak, the longtime host of the popular game show Wheel of Fortune. He writes on Ricochet that, while he expects a huge Republican victory in three weeks, that doesn't that the GOP should feel as though it's all about electoral victory. The man makes a good point.

In particular he warns that although Americans may not like the socialized medicine of the recent Congress and President, that may not mean that they don't want some greater oversight of the health care industry and health costs. Also, he sounded wary of the right pushing too hard on social issues, a point of which even certain stalwart conservatives may have to reluctantly agree. Yet perhaps the most significant observation he made had to do with the GOP turning an electoral win into a sort of witch hunt, holding all sorts of congressional hearings to look into the sins of the Obama Administration and the current Democratic Congress.

That is an idea well worth heed. After the 1994 change of power in the national legislature, it seemed that Republicans (to a degree) lost their bearings and began pursuit of arguably wholly spiteful attacks on President Clinton. To wit, rather than extend and solidify their new found glory and concentrate on putting Republican values to work, the GOP instead sought to bring down the Clinton Administration.

What they ought to have done was ignore the man and his foibles. This is not to excuse the former President, as the Lewinsky affair was for example a proper concern of the nation's. But to have pursued their own initiatives while smirking at the President and allowing his actions to speak for themselves, the GOP may have accomplished more and better things. Instead, the party merely sunk into mere partisanship.

The best way to handle President Obama and his minions, then, should the coming vote play out as anticipated, would be to ignore him as far as possible. Marginalize Mr. Obama; keep him out of the process unless and until inclusion becomes necessary, as in the signing of legislation brought to him. Put the President squarely on the spot on the issues of the greatest interest to the country and make him defend himself. At that point, he will have little option but to show his own partisanship, and the GOP will have constructed an excellent springboard towards bouncing him out of office in 2012. Anything less would only leave the party open to equal and equally deserved public skepticism.