With the fall elections looming, Georgia Democrats might want to root for and not against the gun rights bill now in the Senate. Its passage and presentation to Gov. Deal might be the best hope the Democrats have of some traction in November when they’re feverishly attacking the favored Republicans.
Most Georgians oppose guns being allowed in places like schools. Especially women oppose it. Whatever the policy nuances are of House Bill 875, the bill overall makes for lousy political theatre for the GOP in 2014.
The Republicans’ runway to continued ascendancy in Georgia is starting to take shape otherwise. The kicker was the refusal this week by the White House to commit to the promised funding for the deepening of the Port of Savannah. It’s possible that the President might come through in the months ahead with ‘gift’ of the needed money to Georgia, with Jason Carter and Michelle Nunn by his side.
But don’t bet on it. The Obama administration isn’t known for its tactically conceived whistle stops. It’s more likely that the White House wanted to stick their thumbs in the eye of a red state, and consequences be damned. So Carter and Nunn are left empty-handed. And the irony is that Obama needs Carter and Nunn maybe more than they need him.
The Georgia GOP’s election and reelection efforts got a similar break when the bills to expand certain religious freedoms got snuffed out. Forget that much of the criticism of the bills was hysterical. As political theatre, it was a battle that was over before it began. And it saved the Republicans from being on the defense this fall for something that polls poorly – supposed persecution of gay people.
The Obama presidency is reeling. Obamacare has always been wildly unpopular here. Now the president is looking weak overseas. Seven Democratic Senators this week joined Republicans in rejecting an appointment choice of Obama’s.
Polls show Republican vulnerability in Georgia, but only if the debate is about Nathan Deal’s performance instead of Obama’s. And only if vague notions among the public on the governor’s ‘ethics problems’ can be combined with disapproval of his handling of a winter storm to create the idea that Deal lacks trustworthiness and competence.
On another front, a bill to further restrict driver’s license privileges for some alien immigrants in Georgia also died. This was the clearest signal yet that the Republicans of Georgia are in the corner of business and not in with the purists and the ideologues. It’s also a proactive admission by GOP leaders that soon Georgia will be a hard state to have political power in unless you win at least a significant portion of the Latino vote.
This year the Republicans even addressed the travesty of the State Capitol not having a statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Soon there will be one.
Other than the reaction to Snowjam 1, Deal and the state Republican leadership seem to have done what’s necessary to retain the reins of power for another election cycle.
Now if they ‘shoot down’ the gun bill.
