I was born and raised only forty
miles from Boston’s Fenway Park. Naturally, I became a Red Sox fan. During
those early years, the Yankees always seemed to beat the Red Sox and win the
World Series. I grew to hate them.
After college, I was an immature
idealist with liberal convictions. I even voted for Lyndon Johnson. But after
realizing that his Great Society was doing more harm than good and was really a
vote-buying scam, I became a Republican. Like the old saying says, “If you
aren’t a liberal when you’re young, you have no heart. If you’re not a
conservative when you’re older, you have no head.”
The parallel between this year’s Red
Sox and Republican politicians is uncanny. After a slow start, the Red Sox began
to play well and rose to the top of the division by the All-Star break. The
Republicans, all but doomed by pollsters, captured both houses of Congress and
the Presidency in the last elections and found themselves in a commanding
position to reshape the country, and they actually got off to a good start. But
since the All-Star break, the punchless Red Sox have surrendered the lead back
to the Yankees, while In Washington, Congressional Republicans have proven that
they cannot govern. Worse, the chaos in a White House presided over by a
clueless pretender is making any course correction improbable if not
impossible.
Here’s what has to happen. The Red
Sox need to start winning again, and they won’t do that until they start
swinging bats that don’t have holes in them. The Republicans need to start
winning again, too. With healthcare reform dead in the water, tax reform has
become an imperative. And winning again won’t happen—not for the Red Sox nor
for the Republicans— unless they work as a team.
To win their division the Red Sox
shouldn’t count on the Yankees losing. And for the Republicans to deliver on
their promises, they shouldn’t expect any help from the obstructionist
Democrats. In both cases someone has to step up to the plate and carry the
team. Who will that be?
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