He was forced to launch the Cruz missile because Scott Walker is winning the Tea Party skirmish while Jeb Bush is waging war for conservative donors, threatening to wipe out the competition before they ever get started. Once again, the Bush family is engaging in a half-assed war as Jeb Bush soaks up republican money while simultaneously keeping his feet away from the deep waters that come with being a declared candidate.
As with any good military tactician, Bush is doing his best effort to control the republican roads that lead to the presidency, and his potential opponents are reacting. Bush is dominating the money road because these roads get attacked on all fronts when the Libertarian and Tea Party segmentation of conservative ideology affirm their relevance during election seasons. As a result of this segmentation, the Paul family (Ron and Rand) get to unofficially launch the republican race to the presidency by voicing Libertarian dissent and then fading into the darkness once republican in-fighters realize that their Civil war is too bloody to put forth a worthy general election candidate. Especially one named Paul.
Cruz is a dangerous weapon because he will turn the tide of the republican unCivil war by placing the focus on him. What is becoming sadly apparent is that this Cruz is not one of the modern guided missiles that could make republican opponents surrender. Although most recognize how widespread the appeal for Cruz is, it is also easy to recognize where the border of his appeal ends.
No! That was not a stab at Cruz's Canadian heritage. We will save that line of birtherism for Donald Trump to do since his own run for the presidency (teehee) might require he use it. Cruz is as worthy to run for this dysfunctional post as anyone in this dysfunctional nation. As a politician, Cruz makes you feel that he's been waiting for this moment every since delivering that winning campaign speech in primary school. For hours- and years now, Cruz has been staring into the mirror, practicing for the day that he would deliver that winning speech to America. When you watch him today, it's clear that he has spit shined and polished his message so well that he rubbed all humanity out of the delivery.
Convincing Believers
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| Does that T-shirt say "WE Want Rand"? |
Cruz jumped in to seize this chance to elevate himself above his least electable image by becoming the only one in the race right now. Jumping feet first into the deep waters will allow Cruz to carry the party flag and influence the republican brand. Chris Christie seems incapable of clearing his traffic jam and getting back on the road to the Hillaryesque coronation that he was receiving prior to BridgeGate. Consequently, Scott Walker and Jeb Bush are the only remaining conservative candidates with general election appeal, and even Walker is proving himself way too appealing to the same passionate Tea drinkers that Cruz hopes to steal away with his announced candidacy. Walker is not as contrived as Cruz, but even Walker won't be electable in a general election if his union busting behaviors mobilize the unions against him. America's unions are clearly declining, but they're not dead yet.
As much as WE pray that the republican party will return to the age of reason and stop disrupting the direction of the party and of American politics in an irreparable way, the reality is that a leader of the republican party must rise up and carry the party message to the public at large instead of constantly convincing those who already believe. Dismantling the republican party is actually the beginning stages of unraveling the two-party system that limits the voice of too many. Stephen A. Smith was right about the marginalization caused by the two-party system, however, does Smith also believe that having all blacks vote republican for one election will make republicans adjust their recent behaviors towards minority voters? Nationwide voter restriction measures suggests that republicans expect it will take more than Stephen A. Smith and other party faithfuls to win back the white house.
It's The Stupid Two Party System, Stupid.
Breaking the two-party system will demand the sacrifice of upshoot alternative parties who must be willing to lose elections for the sake of party relevancy. The Tea Party is holding on to relevance, but their Libertarian offspring is on a rapid rise. Cruz or Walker might get their turn to elevate the Tea Party's role in the republican party, but I doubt it since not enough of America seems ready to lean to these extremes when it comes to selecting a president. One day they might, but that day hasn't arrived, so Jeb Bush, or some regular dude like him will eventually be asked to win enough regular voters to give republicans a chance to get back into the white house. Unless this is the election when Rand Paul runs as a Libertarian and Walker or Cruz run under the Tea Party banner, the two-party system continues functionally intact- which will likely mean a democrat in the white house and a republican controlled congress for years to come.
The Sacrifice of Change
Republicans are doing something noble for America even if they didn't originally plan it that way. Liberal leaning Progressives will be forced to follow suit eventually by creating party alternatives that will break the back of gerrymandering. What that requires is candidates and political ideologies that centrist-conservative voters will vote for. Although several Progressive parties have sprouted from democrat roots, democrats seem unwilling to take the pioneer path that the republicans are taking . When it comes to presidential elections, democrats remain fully afraid of the futility of segmenting their vote and are resisting party alternatives for now. Right or wrong, coronations remain the method of operation for democrats who will have several years before they must find a centrist progressive to carry the democrat banner. But that day seems inevitable.
Jeb Bush fills this role and is the most reasonable answer to the executive branch challenge for republicans, but his party seems uninterested. Early feedback has Jeb securely controlling the inside elements of his party(money), yet he's unfamiliar to republicans who didn't follow his political career, and unfamiliar to those mythical independents who vote predictably despite shunning the two party labels. Jeb is also suffering from the strong familiarity that average Americans have of his brother and father. As a result, he will need every bit of that financial support he's building to convince his own party to carefully consider the electability of the candidate that they will soon ask America to choose from. By those standards, Bush is it.
Cruz is ignoring that electability issue while also ignoring America's disdain for Tea Party extremism. Most importantly though, Cruz seems to be ignoring the fact that timing your announcement to be a US president is vital to your prospects because getting to know the public while avoiding unnecessary exposure is a tricky balancing act. The longer you are out there, the potential for bad stuff looms heavily, which is why the first person to announce almost never wins the race. Smart political operatives play this card game masterfully while cardboard stiff politicians easily confuse their partisan appeal with global acceptance. Ideological statues who can deliver tape recorded speeches, but make you afraid that robots are running America, should never be the first to announce themselves as a candidate for the president of the United States of America, if they really have plans on winning.
Oops. Too late!
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