Obama's victory by a thread has sent Rush Limbaugh into a tailspin. He truly believed that it would be a Republican landslide. Even in the face of clear polling data, he believed in the landslide. And in the wake of Election Day, we find Rush in an existential crisis.
In this long, almost Shakespearean discourse, you can see a Rush divided against himself. He starts out with the typical Republican party line: Democrats are Santa, the voting public is a bunch of children, Obama promised them candy so they voted for him. It's all just a load of sour grapes, and Rush seems to know this, because next he switches to an aggrieved, "Why don't they love us?" sort of thing.
Limbaugh makes a good point: the Republican party has a lot of high-profile women and non-white people in power. And yet Republicans don't (in Rush's words) "get credit for it." Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Condoleeza Rice, Mark Rubio, Herman Cain.
If you actually look at the numbers, there isn't THAT much diversity in the Democratic camp. It's still mostly white dudes in power. Politics reflects the nation, and in our nation, white dudes hold the power. The kyriarchy trumps mere politics.
But the Democrats have positioned themselves as a minority-friendly, women-friendly party. Whereas the Republicans have the image of being just a bunch of rich white dudes. Limbaugh acknowledges this problem, then throws up his hands in exasperation.
"If we're not getting the female vote, do we become pro-choice? Do we start passing out birth control pills? Is that what we have to do?"
Limbaugh acts like this is a ridiculous idea. But the answer - not to state the obvious - is YES.
And that's really what this comes down to. What does it mean to be a Republican? Can you be a Republican and still be in favor of gay marriage? Can you be a Republican who is pro-choice? Can you be a Republican who believes that immigration laws should be loosened?
The obvious answer, again, is YES.
Women want agency over their own bodies. Hispanic voters want to not feel persecuted by their own government. Black people want to be treated with respect. These are all things that the Republican party, as a whole, COULD DO. Without losing a single bit of its Republicanism.
The Republican ideal is "less government." The Republicans could find a way to make that message speak to black voters, to Hispanic voters, to female voters. But in order to do that, they might have to loosen the ties of social conservatism. As long as they stick to the conservative party line (anti-immigration, pro-life, overwhelmingly white) the Republican party is probably doomed.
A fact of which
Rush Limbaugh is apparently keenly aware. And yet, he can't bring himself to change.