Tuesday, January 1, 2013

GOP's New Year's Resolution

I like Lindsay Graham, the Republican Senator from South Carolina, and agree with him that President Obama has won a great political victory and should, of course, be congratulated on his victory.  Enough said!

My New Year's Resolution should be to attend the next meeting of the Republican National Committee and to nominate Mr. Spock as the new Chairman of the Grand Old Party.  You'll remember he was the half-human, half-Vulcan on the television classic Star Trek.  He was forever trying to control the emotions from his human side and think logically like any good Vulcan.

When Republicans lost control of their emotions, they lost the message-campaign, allowing Obama to win this victory.

I know many, many Democrats who detested Bush 43.  However, I know even more Republicans who absolutely hate Obama!  I know that is a harsh word, but I find it accurate.  Not only do many of my friends tell themselves that Obama is actually a Muslim-Socialist, I have one friend who believes Obama is the apprentice to the Devil himself in case he retires . . . no, seriously . . . he believes Obama is conspiring with the Devil.  Where did the logic go?  It was consumed by emotion.

This put the Party into the position of disagreeing with anything and everything Obama said.  So, when Obama said he wanted the successful and the lucky to pay more in taxes, the Republicans reacted with protecting the "rich," instead of saying "yeah, but how are you going to cut spending, especially entitlements?"  The Republican message became merely anti-Obama, instead of advocating for real lasting Change.

Of course, when we negotiate the debt ceiling increase, there will be another opportunity to control spending.  If they can control their emotions, Republicans will stay focused on controlling the deficit.  If they don't control their emotions, they will find themselves arguing the poor and the elderly don't need any help.

The market should stabilize for awhile, as uncertainty has been reduced.  Given that we lost our AAA credit rating following the last debt ceiling debate, I expect the market to lose value if the debate becomes another debacle.

And, by the way, what is YOUR New Year's Resolution ??