Who Loves You, Baby?

The GOP's constant attacks on Obama as President and the neocon failure to learn anything from the Bush administration's foreign policy setbacks is beginning to take a heavy toll on the Republican brand, as Michael Cohen writes over at Politico.

The problems for Republicans are threefold: First, many on the right seem overtaken by a visceral dislike of Obama that is faintly reminiscent of Democratic attitudes toward President George W. Bush. This partisanship is manifesting itself in dangerous ways. It’s one thing to oppose Obama’s initiatives; it’s quite another to be seen as rooting against American interests.

Second, Republicans continue to engage in the same sort of knee-jerk attacks on Democratic “weakness” and naked appeals to American militarism that, while once resonant, have lost their political luster.

Third, Bush-administration-era views — and political appeals — on national security continue to dominate the GOP. Conservative columnist Ross Douthat strikingly noted this week that Obama passed up a chance to “establish himself” as an “American president” by failing to turn down the Nobel Peace Prize. Considering that even in late 2003, at a period of growing tension in the trans-Atlantic relationship, 84 percent of the country believed that it was in America’s national security interests to be liked and respected around the world, it’s hard to see how this would make Obama “more American” or better liked.

Republicans seem to be buying in to the myth of American indifference and even antipathy toward the rest of the world — adopting the neoconservative view, expressed succinctly by Liz Cheney last weekend, that Americans want a president who espouses the notion of U.S. dominance on the world stage. It’s hard to square these views with Pew Research Center polling from last year, which indicated that a majority of Americans viewed the country’s lack of respect in international eyes as a “major problem,” or regular survey results that show Americans prefer a foreign policy that is focused on cooperation and multilateralism.

The greatest irony of the conservative response to the Nobel Committee’s honor is that it is a clear indication that there is a global thirsting for American leadership and engagement. Conservatives should be delighted by what is basically a European call for American leadership; yet the response has been to treat it as a mark of shame for Obama.

And that's the real issue. It's only a mark of shame if Obama does it, and if Obama does it, it's a mark of shame. People are finally picking up on Obama Derangement Syndrome, and they're getting sick of it. "If you guys have a better idea," they say, "Let's hear it." The response is nothing but screaming and lies and stupidity. And yes, that's turning off large swaths of America to Republicanism.

Damn shame too, we need a party to keep the Democrats approaching actual honesty.