A Warning to My Old Republican Friends: Screw Up The Obama Moment and You're History -- Literally

If the Republicans -- not to mention their bedrock supporters, such as evangelical Christians, neoconservatives and others -- do not grasp the Obama moment, and then rise to the occasion, when it comes to understanding the significance of having the first black American to become an authentic presidential aspirant, they will have doomed themselves to political obscurity and moral opprobrium forever.

The Republican Party would not be where it is today or have dominated American politics for the last 30 years, if it had not been for my late evangelical leader father Francis Schaeffer. Dad more or less invented the Protestant pro-life movement by giving it its intellectual basis; before that, evangelical Protestants mostly stayed out of politics. Along with Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Dr. Dobson and the other handful of "founding fathers" of the religious right (including to a lesser extent me before I dropped out of the movement), back in the 70s and 80s we empowered and energized a big chunk of today's Republican base.

So what I have to say here about Senator Obama to my old Republican friends comes from an inside perspective. It's this: beware how you deal with the Obama moment. What you do now is going to define you far more than you'll define Obama. He is about to become a major part of American history. You are about to be written off forever ... if you get this wrong.

As a former Republican activist who, as late as 2000, was campaigning for John McCain, today I am a dedicated supporter of Senator Obama for president. Yes, I changed my mind. But that isn't the point. My point here is to ask how the Republicans will define themselves by the means they use to try to define and defeat Obama.

My motivation? It isn't to help Republicans win. I want them to lose the election. But there are bigger fish to fry. For instance the peace and goodwill that we will all need to return to in order to function as Americans after this election. America matters more than party. And it is America that will be damaged by the self-destruction of the Republican Party. We need a viable opposition.

Just to be clear: I'm not saying that everyone must vote for Obama, or that people who don't are racists, evil or dumb. I am saying that how the Obama candidacy is treated and what tactics are ued will define Obama's opponents, not him. And this year's election will either help build up America or tear it apart.

While Republicans are concentrating on winning in November it seems to me that they have lost sight of the fact that this moment has far greater significance than whatever happens in electoral politics this year. If you listen to the silly chatter on FOX News, or talk radio, or read the likes of Dr. Dobson, Pat Buchanan and William Kristol and absorb their sophomoric take on Obama, his patriotism, his flag pin, his wife's patriotism, etc., etc., the question arises: do they know what planet they are on or what century they are in?

How Republicans, Democrats, and independent voters react to Obama's candidacy will define us all in ways that today can hardly be imagined. While most Republicans (and many Democrats too) seem to be concentrating on present and narrowly defined victory, the real issue is how we all will be perceived in the future. Our great, great grandchildren will pass judgment on us, and so will the world.

Simply put: Republican strategists who think that business-as-usual -- i.e., the slanderous politics of the past 30 years -- will take care of matters this time around are deluded. Worse than that, they will doom the reputation of the Republican Party and turn it into a marginal footnote of American history if they keep trivializing this historic event. That is too bad because, as I said, we need a two party system.

All over the world people who have thought ill of America are now thinking better of us, simply because Obama has become a serious major party candidate. All over the world our country, which has sunk to its lowest level ever in the public's view under Bush, suddenly looks immeasurably better because we have grown up enough to embrace a black candidate, our fraught and sordid racial history notwithstanding. We might even be setting an example in spite of ourselves. All over the world people who have despaired of their old friend America are taking a second look.

In our own country millions of new voters, especially young voters, are coming into the political process that before Obama, they had either ignored or written off. And the African-American population that has been the victim of the racism which has dragged on and on relentlessly, is taking a deep breath and considering a new future.

Senator Obama is not just a "historic black candidate." He turns out to be a profoundly inspirational person. For a start he is not beating the drum for fear as the means to motivate votes. This is a huge change from Bush and the paranoid distrust of the "other" that the Bush years will be remembered for. There are echoes of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt in the measured and sane Obama candidacy. There is the best of the American story in his personal history. The man radiates a steady decency, compassion and profound wisdom that is rare at any time in politics, but following the embarrassment of George W. Bush comes like cold water to those stuck in an interminable desert.

This is the context of the Obama candidacy. And what it symbolizes long-term is so far and away more important than the election results in November, that the mere politics of the moment is almost an insult to the sea change that Obama's candidacy represents.

If the world gets it, if Obama inspires the French, the British, the Egyptians, the Germans, the Indonesians, the Irish, even the Chinese, but Republican operatives and strategists don't "get it," then I make this prophecy: the Republican Party will look so small and yes, so pathetically racist, that by the end of the day we will barely have a two-party system left in America. No one will forgive the Republicans (or angry Clinton Democrats) if they come out of this moment looking as if they missed the point of what America means.

The Republicans are going to look as out of touch a few years from now as did the isolationists and "America First" folks after World War II. Before the war they were active in the prewar run up and they seemed very much in the game, even relevant. But the isolationists didn't understand the fact that the world had changed and left them and their interests stranded. The globe was smaller than they figured and they marginalized themselves. Forces beyond their political control were unleashed on them. And by the end of World War II the entire world map was redrawn. There was no room left for them on the political map either. They went from serious to joke status in a heartbeat.

That's the fate that awaits the Republicans today if they persist in trivializing Obama. As they prepare their slimy little Rovian attacks on Michelle Obama, and her "lack of patriotism," on Senator Obama and his "un-American" former pastor, and as the racial innuendo and the use of Obama's middle name, etc., etc., morphs into an updated version of "swift boating" the Republicans are more or less signing their death warrant. They are about to become a minority party perceived as controlled by silly half-educated white men, cranks, racists and windbags. The writing is on the wall. If fools like the FOX News folks, are the face of the Republican Party in this election the Republicans are done. It will not be forgotten that the Republicans pissed on a shining moment of opportunity and could do no better than snicker at a moment when the rest of the world looked at the Obama moment in awe and renewed respect for America.

Obama changes everything. Those who understand this and embrace the facts may live to fight another day in whatever political party. Those who don't -- be they Republicans or Hillary Clinton's disappointed and angry Democrats -- instantly make themselves part of a past that will never be escaped or lived down.

Here is what the Republicans and others can do to come out of this contest alive and well with their future bright whether they win or lose this election.

1. Categorically repudiate and denounce the sort of slime attacks that are already being mounted against Obama and his wife until they stop.

2. Refuse to go along with the snickering half-wits at places like FOX News. They will take you down with them into well deserved oblivion.

3. Pay homage to what Obama means to America and what his candidacy stand for in the same way that Obama pays homage to McCain's Vietnam War service and do so often and where it counts.

4. Decide now that it would be better to lose this election than win a race-based or innuendo-based pyrrhic victory that decimates the Republican Party's (or angry Clinton fans') reputation forever.

5. Debate the issues, not the man. The point is not to belittle Obama. You can't. He's already a giant of American history and became such just by getting this far in a country that was still lynching black men in our parents' lifetimes. But that doesn't mean that you have to agree. Say that his tax hikes will hurt. Say that his medical coverage is going to cost. There are real issues. Call him on those if you will. And experience is a legitimate issue too. But stay out of the slime.

6. Don't be too clever by half. Play even the hint of the race card, no matter how cutely or while pretending innocence, and you're toast.

How the Republican Party deals with this moment and whether it looks to a larger future than simply winning by any means, will not only say more about the Republicans than it says about Obama but will either give the Republicans a place in the future or relegate them to a discredited past from which they will never return. That will happen even if McCain wins. The victory will be short-lived.

Members of the Democratic Party who have America's best interests at heart can only hope that the half of our country we call red state America doesn't self-destruct. If it does it will make us all smaller. We all live here, remember?

Frank Schaeffer is a writer and author of CRAZY FOR GOD-How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back.

Follow Frank Schaeffer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/frank_schaeffer

Comments

[Strickland4President]

Thank you Frank.

I agree completely. But there is still a part of me that hopes that the Republicans ignore your advice.

Do we need opposition? Yes.

But I hope to see them crushed under their own wheels of hate and lies.

[mairs]

And they will spew hate and lies. They won't be able to help themselves. He is too juicy a target.

[ProudLiberalDan]

And they have nothing else to offer. They cannot run on policy. All of their conservative policies have utterly failed under George W. Bush. Hate and lies are all they have left.

Conservatives who actually care about conservatism should want to lose this election to ride themselves of the opportunists who failed them, so they can go back to the think tanks and come up with some conservative policies that actually work.

[vegasrichard]

Both the democratic and the republicans parties need to stop demonizing the other side. I am a life long republican and have been pissed off at the party for 15 years but I have been pissed off at the democratic party for far longer. Both parties put party before country, both parties would rather belittle people that believe differently than have an honest debate and both parties act like they are the sole bearers of the truth.

I wish both parties would stop the needless stupidity of the last 25 years and stop dividing us by class by race and religion. Stop trying to ram your idea's down peoples throats no one party has all the answers to the problems of today.

I will vote for Obama not because I agree with all his idea's but because I believe he will change the way we do things in this country.

[BitJam]

So is it okay for Bush and Chaney to commit war crimes, treason, and glutinous war profiteering? Should we give them a free pass on all this just because they are Republicans?

[BeingFrank]

Simply Brilliant !!

Focused this important world changing moment in American history and with a pan towards the future, so clear it was, that I could have sworn that I was watching a high def movie.

As a matter of fact Frank, this would make for a entertaining, educational yet highly interesting documentary.

The best written article I have ever read on Huffpost or possibly anywhere !~

[KHAAANNN]

I'm sorry Frank, but you don't seem to understand this at all.
The NeoCons are terrified of an Obama presidency not for moral, or political reasons, but legal reasons. Many of them are facing massive fines and LOOOONG prison terms for their criminal actions, and like the mobsters they are, they MUST win, or be convicted in the inevitable trials that will follow a Democratic sweep in November. Because of this they will resort to ANY actions to avoid their fate.
Unfortunately, I do not expect Obama to make it past the Denver convention alive, and if by some miracle he does, the NeoCons will resort to what is essentially a military coup. They will "allow" another terrorist attack (possibly on the Denver convention) and then declare martial God I hope I'm wrong.

[Marmann]

I share your concerns about Obama's safety. By the way, why didn't Hillary end her campaign? Why has she only suspended it? Something's rotten in Denmark. I believe Hllary was designated to be the next president, but something went terribly wrong: Americans woke up and paid attention.

As far as a terror attack, I believe once Bush bombs Iran, we will see true terror attacks throughout the country. The only conceivable reason that Bush deliberately failed to secure our borders was so the "enemy" could easily gain entrance, live and work among us and be ready to kill us, en masse, when given the word. Iran is Iraq's neighbor, and it's seen firsthand the devastation caused by America for no legitimate, true reason. What reason could Iran possibly have to NOT believe it's next on Bush's big list of wars? Iraq may have been somewhat blind-sided by the invasion. Iran will not be. The chaos resulting from this (along with the dying financial markets and middle class) will give Bush his "moment" to become dictator-in-chief.

[smoo]

If Bush Bombed Iran, there will be people in the streets. I'm serious. Think about it. Just as he has robbed the country blind, just before he lives he sets the country on fire, throws up his middle finger, and essential says "Fu$%" y'll and see if you fix this. Seriously if we sit back and take that, while also finding it completely okay to stoop to the level of fox where people will do whatever it takes to bring down clearly the better ot these two candidates then this country will risk the fate of Russia. A super power that essential collapsed from within.

[psydoc]

I may be wrong, but I believe HRC suspended her campaign due to the amount of money she owes. I think that if she ended the campaign she would need to pay the debt asap. Am I correct on this one? I heard MSNBC discuss this fact before her speech, whether it was a "yellow flag" if she "suspended" as opposed to " ended." I was very nervous as well...and to be honest, still am.

But, I trust that it is bc of the 30 million (or was it 20 million) owed. FYI Chris Mathews said that she spent aprx $101,000 PER vote! Ouch.

[paixa3]

K; I have to not agree with your first paragraph. Do you really believe that trials take place? We in Europe do not.

The Democrats, after receiving great electoral victories in 2006 have not had the nads they needed to bring justice.

About your second paragraph, the world is sick of killing.

The rest of the the world has passed you and are NOT looking back.

[BigRube]

I hope many people read this. This is really good. I beleive that the American people have woke and are not paying any attention to talk show host much. I hope so anyway. This the time to make history and to get America back to being America.

[daddysboy]

America has multiple parties and will do just fine without the party of self absorption and anti-government sentiment having a dominant role. The fact that representatives of ignorance are still humming away on the television set proves that your old friends aren't going to get it until they are swept away once and for all. I believe there is room for MANY points of view in our government and there should even be room for selfishness if that's what the people want, but at this point, what the republican party represents is about as far away from wholesome and in the public's best interest as you can get. That is just too far to travel to offer any respect or homage to past glory.

[rpd123]

Frank --

I think you're begging the question. The GOP will employ every sleazy tactic known to man because: A) That's simply what they do; and B) They have a limited playbook -- it's go the lowroad or simply conceed.

[JennyJay]

WOW! WONDERFUL ARTICLE! You have a view of our future that is unlike any other, and I am grateful that I got to share in it. . . . .Thanks. Yes, doors have opened this year that we didn't even know existed. . . . we can either "get along" and walk into the future together or . . . stay where we are and all just die together. . . . Fair and honest people no longer respect Republicans, they have come to represent not just meaness . . . but inmaturity, stupidity, greediness and hopefully a dead and dying group.

[becky]

This would never have written about a woman candidate.

[smoo]

Becky that's not a fair thing to say. We don't now if this would not have been written about a woman candidate. It is much easier for to say that this would have been written about any candidate who stayed completely obident and true to some of our hightest principles. Clinton did do that and even many of her supports (reading blogs like taylormarsh) felt that when it gets right down to it, you must do whatever it takes to win. I'm sorry Becky but I believe thats on the wrong side of what history is offering us right now.

[washington31]

Frank,

You get it......As an AA the fact that BO was nominated as taken this weight of dispear off my shoulders and I can look to a brighter future for my two biracial daughters. I feel as if a page has turned and will be turned. I am a military wife and when we are stationed in diffrent countries, I don't know if the people are happy we are there. I don't even feel safe traveling to certain countries, I feel like the unwanted dinner guess from American. We need to heal the country and not create more war. I say again, Frank you get it!

[Badwater]

Political obscurity and moral opprobrium are a perfect legacy for the Bush Republics.

[Novista]

"echoes of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt"

I would hope that he would be better than either.

[Eoin45]

That's a tall order.

[huffthemagicdragon]

This needed to be said. History is happening. Be a part of it.

[HBeachbum]

Not if I have to vote for Obama. Sorry, I don't fall for his pretty words and lack of experience. The rest of you rObomatrons, do as you wish. The real Obama will be exposed before November.

[PeterGSW]

I agree with everything but the 'We need the Republican party" bit. For a two party system, we need another viable party, but it need not be the Republicans. It could be the Whigs, the Greens, the Perotistas or whatever Ron Paul's movement is turning into (Neolibertarians?).

The Republicans have so soiled this country I do not see how they could ever be referred to as the loyal opposition. We've already got the 'blue dogs' for that.

[LeBelAge]

This is good advice, but Republicans won't take it. The have used the bait and smear tactic for 40 years and know of no other way.