Can Republicans Govern

We talk about leadership in politics, but is this an appropriate term? What the idealists call leadership is actually, in contemporary American politics a composite of two components. First and foremost it's about power. Second it's about public relations.

Politics is and always has been about power and the ability to use it. The master of the skill I think in my age was Lyndon Johnson. Wheter the applicable component was fear, intimidation, coercion or compromise - or most probably a combination of these he could get things done. The second part is press. The liberal press and TV is still the most predominant form of information disimination. It is not necessarily in what they say but what they may not say, or the place they say it. An example is the recent tie of Anan to the oil for food scandal. The New York Times put this on page six. As it heated up they moved it to page 10. Ditto (maybe different pages) for the Washington Post.

The ability of the Democrats to practically shut down the legislative process with a minority is ridiculous. Whey do they get away with it? At the worst the Rebublicans should make them do the "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" bit and keep the floor day and night like the "old timey" filibuster of Huey Long et al.

The media problem may be overcome, but the power problem has to be addressed by Republicans. The failure of the majority to execute the powere they should have exudes weakness. It 's time to act or forget it.