Driving for the Red Zone

For some sober analysis of what happened last Tuesday, you could do worse than Charles Krauthammer's column today at NationalReviewOnline.

Krauthammer reminds his readers that all this talk of waves, one way and then the other, is over-wrought.  What actually transpired on Tuesday is more simply explained as a return to the norm and represents neither a whole-sale rejection of the Democrats nor a passionate embrace of the Republicans.

This is not, however, a rejection of Democrats as a party. The center-left party as represented by Bill Clinton remains competitive in every cycle. The lesson of Tuesday is that the American game is played between the 40-yard lines. So long as Democrats don’t repeat Obama’s drive for the red zone, Democrats will cyclically prevail, just as Republicans do.

Nor should Republicans overinterpret their Tuesday mandate. They received none. They were merely rewarded for acting as the people’s proxy in saying no to Obama’s overreaching liberalism. As one wag put it, this wasn’t an election so much as a restraining order.

Fair enough, as far as it goes, but I think there's something important missing.

According to the football metaphor Krauthammer employs (I've used it myself), when the Democrats "drive for the red zone" of liberalism, they are in fact playing their game, being themselves.  The GOP's role in that instance is unquestionably one of defense, as it just was, and their charge is simply to hold the line.

The problem with this image, however, is that for the most part only the Democrats control the ball.  What happens when the Republicans have it?

Sadly, what usually happens is that they play it safe, content, it seems, to keep it comfortably between the 40s.  Because that's where the game is played, right?  Sometimes, however, and this is maddening, even within the 40s, the GOP actually adopts some of the Democrat plays and moves the ball in their direction. (The new prescription drug benefit, for example.)

Well, I say it's high time the Republicans quit playing defense and made their own bold move toward the red zone of conservatism, of constitutionalism.  Sure, given the cyclical give-and-take of American politics, it's unlikely they'll score an immediate touchdown.  But, if they try, they just might get close enough for a field goal.  And after playing mostly from behind since the 1930s, even a few points on the board would feel especially good. 



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