The Big Meeting

The newly empowered Republicans and President Barack Obama had their first big meeting the other day, in an attempt to find common ground. The early word is that there isn't any.

Indeed, can there be? In theory, we are dealing with two sides about as diametrically opposed to one another as any two groups have been in our history. We have the President's massive build up of federal power and unprecedented increases in federal spending, not to mention his almost dictatorial approach towards health care reform, against a renewed GOP sent to Washington with no other mandate than to change all that. How can Mr. Obama appeal to his base and win re-election if he gives up too much? How can Republicans go back and ask for another chance if they don't press what advantages they have as hard and as far as they may?

The most interesting irony is that next two years may hurt both sides equally. How do you compromise with such hard lines already set? Yet the American Constitutional system pretty much forces one of two alternatives upon her people. Either both sides will give up on things they would rather not surrender, at which point their established supporters will wince (if not worse), or neither side will concede a point, causing a near shut down in federal politics. Which side, liberal or conservative, would that help the most?

There's little doubt that core supporters of both the President and the GOP want their leadership to press forward on their own goals. But if that case plays out, how will the more general voting public react?

The best guess is that stalemate will help the conservatives. If they can also successfully paint President Obama as the one stalling any progress. Why? Because conservatives tend to stick to a cause better than liberals or moderates. What better example of that do we have than the most recent election cycle? After abandoning Republicans who walked away from conservatism, they came back with a vengeance when they saw what had been wrought by the 2008 electoral debacle which put the Democrats in full power. They are the voters more likely to hold true to their values at the ballot box in 2012.

If the GOP stays true to them today. Hopefully, the Republicans have taken to heart the lesson of two years back.