Which GOP Will Obama Face?

[CrimsonWhite]

Another interesting one.

WASHINGTON -- There is a second transition under way over which President-elect Barack Obama has no control -- the transition of conservatives to minority status. How they do this will have a powerful impact on the new presidency.

If you doubt that, ask Bill Clinton. Clinton was elected in 1992 with only 43 percent of the vote while Republicans gained seats in the House. The right felt empowered to treat Clinton as a not fully legitimate minority president and moved into unrelenting opposition. Republicans took over Congress in 1994 and pushed the logic of their hostility to impeachment in 1998.

This time, conservatives can find no silver linings. Obama won the first Democratic majority in 32 years, and Democrats added seats in Congress. And conservatives can't blame John McCain for running as a moderate. He picked a right-wing running mate, abandoned some of his own unorthodox positions (notably on taxes), and ran a classic conservative attack campaign against the "socialist" Obama. None of it worked.

Note that I have been using the word "conservative," not "Republican." This is because the Republican Party is now wholly owned by the conservative movement. The new Democratic majority is built in part on voters who once thought of themselves as moderate Republicans but have abandoned the party in large numbers.

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