Republicans Regress
By Mowahid Hussain Shah
The race for the Republican Presidential nomination at the GOP Convention in July 2016 at Cleveland has begun in earnest. The first Democrat debate for the Presidential nomination shall be in Nevada on October 13.
One way to ascertain the health of a nation is to see who makes it to the top. At the debate platform on August 6 were the 10 top-tier Republican Party Presidential contenders.
The major question is whether this is the best America has to offer. Is that what lies ahead? Uncouth and undercooked was the overriding impression. The poverty of mediocrity juxtaposed with the immensity of big money. None – of those on display – had the quintessential attributes of leadership including intrepidity and integrity.
Left unsaid was the massive issue of gun control violence. Overhyped was the specter of "Islamist terror" which factually is a pin-prick factor in US society. The aggregate message of the debate then was garbled sloganeering and incoherent posturing.
The last Republican President of consequence, both at home and abroad, was the much-reviled Nixon, who opened the doors to China, had detente with the Soviet Union, started the drawdown from Vietnam through the Paris peace talks, and, most importantly, stood up for respectful relations with the Muslim world, especially so, after the 1973 Arab-Israeli Ramadan War.
Midway during the Watergate storm, Nixon flew to meet the formidable Faisal at Riyadh in June 1974, where he promised to forge an even-handed approach to the Mideast and its core underlying Palestinian problem.
The contrast between today's and yesterday's Republicans couldn't be more stark. Because of accumulating missteps at home and abroad, few look up to Washington as the repository of responsible leadership. A series of cumulative setbacks has not triggered the introspection necessary for housecleaning and reexamination.
The age of instant communications has not led to fresh insights. In fact, it showcases how gullible and manipulable the public at large can be. And how easy it is in this media-driven era to twist and shape public opinion and attitudes through a continuous dose of misinformation. It shrinks the already limited space for reasoned discourse and informed environment through which sensible voices can be differentiated from a crowded field and heard.
100 years ago, in the 20th century, World War I was raging. Now, after being sufficiently warned and alarmed, in a supposedly informed and enlightened time, are things shaping up better?
In the coarsening of the political culture, the Democrat side is no different and the Clinton pair is no better.
The Republican debate spectacle was watched by a record 24 million viewers in which Donald Trump, the front-runner, was able to crudely insult women who constitute 53 percent of the voting public, before a live audience of 5,000. Trump – who had vaulted to the top tier – is a buffoonish billionaire businessman who owns the Miss Universe pageant. But can he sustain the surge?
There is still one year left before the Republicans choose their nominee for the White House, but the first debate is a poor reflection on the Republican Party, which has thus far failed to unveil plausible leaders.
