I am very surprised that John Dickerson authored this piece about the necessity of smashing the Republican Party in Obama’s second term, but I can’t disagree with any of it. Nonetheless, it puts CBS News in an uncomfortable position, as the right is understandably outraged that a major network’s political director is openly calling for the destruction of the GOP. If the shoe were on the other foot, I would be complaining loudly to CBS. I don’t begrudge the right their outrage in this instance.
Yet, I think it is an opportunity to step back and do some reflection. I can’t compare John Dickerson to Walter Cronkite, but there is something to say for dropping any pretense of dispassionate analysis and crying out for justice when the government, or one part of it anyway, goes so far off the rails as to recklessly endanger the welfare of the people. We can’t continue to ignore climate change. We can’t ignore these shooting massacres. We can’t ignore the plight of millions of undocumented workers anymore. We can’t keep screwing around with our credit rating. We can’t allow the kind of dishonesty in our public discourse that we saw go to such extremes during the Romney campaign. Something has to change, and that something is the behavior and makeup of the modern Republican Party.
John Dickerson is right about that.
