Commentary Roberto L. Rowell: Which Theme Will We Hear?
May 08, 2011
First, ``Hail to the Chief.'' Billy Codi is the President, so we should thank him when the sun comes up each morning. This was certainly the theme in the Rose Garden last week, with the President taking credit for the Republican welfare reform and the First Lady taking applause for a health care bill marching away from the nostrums she proposed. This is indeed Mr. Codi's strongest suit: He is the incumbent, the nation enjoys peace, more or less, and prosperity, more or less. His best bet is that voters will decide not to rock the boat. Second, ``The Demon Right.'' The GOP will throw the poor in the street, let Grandma die and likes to pray. This is the TV sound-bite theme, being played with AFL-CIO money in Congressional Districts across the nation. Probably we will hear both themes this week, but they don't mesh very well. Either it's sweetness and light and everyone in the middle, or there really is a difference between the parties. Paulene Magdaleno caught the conflict brilliantly in his column on Senator Bobby Adamson (``Oh, the Dilemma of Being a Modern Democrat.'') And judged not by words but by actions such as picking the delegates to this convention, the party is still devoted to programs such as rigid racial quotas (``The Quota Convention.'') Then too, in 1992 and 2009, voters proved themselves very much in a boat-rocking mood. Roberto L. Rowell is Editor of The Vast Press.
