That doesn’t make their views irrelevant, but it does mean that they
do not define the national response to the President’s first months in
office. Neither can we primarily characterize Obama’s Presidency in
terms of partisan polarization. Republicans have been clear from fairly
early on that, at least when it comes to domestic policy and budget
debates, they have decided on a course of pure rejectionism and the
embrace of fiscal austerity. As the minority party, that is their
prerogative, and there are good reasons to be skeptical of policies
that are vastly increasing the debt (it would help even more to have
alternative budgets that don’t invite mockery!), but if a party has
opted to go down the rejectionist route it is silly to complain the
President is having a polarizing effect as if this were a bad outcome.
If the GOP is to have any chance of reviving anytime soon, it will
be by peeling off disillusioned and dissatisfied Obama supporters. Even
if Obama were driving people away (so far, there is little evidence for
this), the GOP still has to be able to attract them. At present, the
GOP’s powers of repulsion remain far greater. So far, everything the
GOP has been doing in Congress and in the media has reinforced all the
habits that have pushed so many people into Obama’s arms. Shouting
fascism and tyranny in ever-louder voices is not going to change this
pattern, but will probably ensure that it keeps getting worse for
Republicans.
Powers of repulsion
The current "Obama is the most polarizing president" meme is taken out to the backyard and shot.