Hillary Clinton isn’t the only one salivating over the recent happenings within the inner workings of the GOP. The writers of Saturday Night Live are grooming up Cicely Strong’s Nikki Haley impersonation as she practices a ginormous white tooth smile in hopes of what looks like the increasing opportunity to give the world another Tina Fey/Governor Palin experience.
What the GOP establishment had hoped would be a creation of the Nikki “Fresh Face” Haley State of the Union response, has resulted in a Nikki “Backlash” Haley rancor instead that sets itself up to be perfect Sarah Palin sequel. Haley has become the poster child of the GOP’s current I just don’t get it-ness as it pertains to who their base of voters really is. The Nikki Haley litmus test has exposed an internal state of confusion within the old guard, further reinforced by real life Sarah Palin’s recent endorsement of one Donald J. Trump.
Take the youngest current governor in the United States who also happens to be young and pretty, and test the waters to see if women, swing voters, minorities (including immigrants) will follow suit. Only, “operation fresh face” backfired once again, which leaves ordinary conservatives wondering if we are dumb or just plain stupid. Surely, the governor with the least amount of experience of any other will be able to assist the party’s chosen one in solving all of the world’s problems as we know them.
Only one problem. Nikki Haley, like most liberals, despises the modern Republican party base and its current front runners. And why? Because they are too angry.
In an effort to purify the party and restore the antiquated elitist values of long ago, she picks up rocks and throws them at her own party rather than taking her chance in the national spotlight to oppose the current failing administration. This seems like a brilliant move, with the exception that her pot shot towards her own people completely overlooked that the so-called angry conservative base that elected her to office happens to be in the majority.
She makes an attempt to hold the hand of liberals by opening the door to a convenient age-old caricature that all Republican anger is due to bigotry, hatred, and Southern roots that need to be pruned off with a hatchet and buried in the graveyard of pre-civil rights thinking. She tackled what she thought were the biggest demons and, meanwhile, failed to see that she was standing inside a burning house.
What Nikki Haley fails to realize, is that there are plenty of regular pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-gun folks that would rather trump the establishment by casting a vote for a less than optimal choice and who would go so far as to elect someone with, at times, reprehensible rhetoric, simply because he is under no one’s thumb.
The Nikki Haley campaign for Vice-President suffered a failed launch on the night of the SOTU. Her only success was to finally put a nail in the coffin of conservative voters’ hopes that established GOP decision makers are actually listening to their base. But should events turn beyond all reason, it is now clear that the only thing Haley has established is that she would make an excellent running mate for super PAC hopeful Jeb Bush or some other safe old school candidate. Bless his heart.
Moreover, that liberals and conservatives alike should begin to kiss the establishment as we once knew it goodbye, is the hallmark of this 2016 presidential race. Loyal modern day liberals standby while Bernie Sanders steps out of the shadows to give Hillary night sweats as they run neck and neck, without even so much as a glance to her and the Democratic establishment that has forever secured her identity until now. To both Republicans and Democrats alike, the Pinterest generation doesn’t even take the time to say, see we told you, we do things our way. Nobody has to do the thinking for us and we certainly don’t need any such operation fresh face. We want action, not bureaucracy. Meanwhile, in both establishments, the most sought after strategists in the world are too entangled in known protocol that has always worked before to successfully troubleshoot the trending phenomena.
So, as for the GOP, time is running out for the old establishment to hear the voice of an angry majority whose anger is fueled not by hatred, but by a demand for common sense. Nikki Haley and her puppeteers, while earning a star for diversity, do not get the big picture. Even the most fresh-faced Republicans like this, allegedly, self-misrepresented white girl on her voter registration, a Sikh Indian all of her life yet Methodist by marriage, and a very pretty, sweet, and intelligent lady CANNOT be selected as the GOP voice if the Republican’s expect a White House victory. The only good to come of it would be picture perfect Christmas cards and increased SNL ratings. The GOP’s got many a problem, but finding an adequate, truly experienced presidential running mate with ears to hear and interpret the anger of the majority just ain’t one.
Hillary Clinton is salivating alright. For without even lifting a finger, the GOP establishment is defeating itself by wounding its own frontrunner. And the only hope is the angry majority letting them in on a little secret. Dear Establishment: You’re Fired!
Read Brandi’s column each month in The Cross Timbers Gazette newspaper.
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