Over the weekend, while America was obsessing about a conservative Florida pastor who wanted to burn the Koran, former Republican House speaker Newt Gingrich said this about President Barack Obama:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In an interview with the National Review On-line, Gingrich went on to say, “I think he worked very hard at being a person who is normal, reasonable, moderate, bipartisan, transparent, accommodating \u2014 none of which was true.”<\/p>\n
Gingrich’s comments are remarkable in the sense that they bring the wingnut “birther” fringe of the conservative movement into the very mainstream of Republican thought.<\/p>\n
The claim that Mr. Obama — the first African American president, elected by a clear majority of voters — isn’t “normal,” and that he is “so outside our comprehension” that it’s only possible to understand him if you factor in his African ancestry, is bizarre.<\/p>\n
It flirts with a dolled-up, intellectual version of racism.<\/p>\n
Conservatives have shown that there are plenty of ways to question the content of Mr. Obama’s character, without dragging in the color of his skin.<\/p>\n
But Mr. Gingrich’s kookery offers a very real and timely opportunity to flip the question and ask some blunt questions about the GOP itself.<\/p>\n
It’s increasingly clear that the Republican movement is changing very rapidly into something which is nearly unrecognizable even to the tens of millions of GOP voters who have long anchored its success.<\/p>\n
Across the US, you find plenty of front-line Republican candidates who share Mr. Gingrich’s shadowy suspicions about our commander-in-chief.<\/p>\n
But you also find top-tier candidates who believe the following:<\/p>\n
–Secession is a valid policy option for American states, and dissolution of the Republic is a legitimate topic for discussion.\u00a0 (Texas Governor Rick Perry)<\/p>\n
–Illegal immigrants have created a lawless zone of violence and mayhem in American border states. (Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, who claimed falsely that “our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert, either buried or just lying out there, that have been beheaded.”)<\/p>\n
–Abortion should be outlawed, even in cases involving rape, incest and physical danger to the mother. (Nevada Senate challenger Sharron Angle)<\/p>\n
–Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare should be scrapped (Alaska Senate challenger Joe Miller)<\/p>\n
–The Civil Rights Act should not have prohibited racial discrimination by private businesses and enterprises.\u00a0 (Kentucky Senate challenger Rand Paul)<\/p>\n
–One symptom of America’s immoral culture is masturbation, which is a sin on par with marital infidelity (Delaware Senate challenger Christine O’Donnell, who campaigned publicly against “self-abuse” in the 1990s)<\/p>\n
–Our current system of income tax, which taxes the rich at a higher rate than the poor, should be eliminated and replaced with a flat tax that demands the same levy from paupers and billionaires. (Mike Lee, Senate challenger in Utah)<\/p>\n
–The Federal government should be shut down by a new Republican majority in Congress, if such a move is needed to leverage concessions from President Obama. (Rep. Lynn Westmoreland R-GA, a top GOP strategist)<\/p>\n
–Christian America is engaged in an “end of time” or “final struggle” with “radical Islam.”\u00a0 (According to a new film produced and narrated by former House Speaker and likely presidential candidate Newt Gingrich)<\/p>\n
–The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution should be repealed so that people born on American soil are no longer automatically American citizens. (Senator Lindsey Graham, South Carolina)<\/p>\n
–Abolish the 17th Amendment of the US Constitution, eliminating the rights of citizens to directly elect US Senators, with the goal of returning power to state legislatures. (A plank of the 2010 Idaho GOP platform, also supported by some tea party groups)<\/p>\n
–President Obama is a shadowy and little-known figure. (Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, who said recently that “This is a president that we know less about than any other president in history.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It’s important to note that none of these ideas are particularly new to the conservative movement.<\/p>\n
But increasingly, primary voters across the US have chosen to back top-tier candidates with views that would have once existed only on the fringe of the GOP, or among low level back-bench House members.<\/p>\n
And these views aren’t just at odds with those of Democrats or progressives.\u00a0 They contradict decades of mainstream Republican thought.<\/p>\n
We tend to forget that the modern American welfare state, with its system of taxation, regulation, and safety-net programs, is the product of a long collaboration between Democrats and Republicans.<\/p>\n
“Normal” in American society was defined over decades by politicians as varied as Richard Nixon (who implemented a lot of big government ideas) and Bill Clinton (who helped scale back big government programs).<\/p>\n
Indeed, some of the harshest criticism from leaders of the “new” GOP has been leveled with both barrels at “old guard” leaders who held power as recently as two years ago.<\/p>\n
George W. Bush has come in for particular scorn, for No Child Left Behind, for offering Federal drug-cost assistance to senior citizens, and for approving the first bank bailouts after the 2008 financial crisis.<\/p>\n
Yes, American political parties have always been malleable things.\u00a0 The Democratic Party of 2010 has only the thinnest connections to the Democratic Party of 1960, when many of the party’s leaders were southern conservatives.<\/p>\n
But the revolution within the GOP has happened much faster, it seems to me, and has stampeded into far more uncertain territory.<\/p>\n
I can’t help but think that the American press and the public have fallen behind the curve in finding the right language for talking about this new ideological movement.<\/p>\n
What does this version of the GOP stand for?\u00a0 Does this, to borrow Mr. Gingrich’s construction, represent an acceptable and recognizable version of “normal” conservatism?<\/p>\n
Are we simply seeing a more honest, plainspoken and populist version of the GOP?\u00a0 Or something fundamentally different?<\/p>\n
Your comments welcome below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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