Obama: 100 Days

So, Barack Obama has been in power for 100 days, and a Republican Senator has given him the extra special gift of a defection. I find it mildly amusing that the press has suddenly picked up on the first 100 days of the Obama presidency again - most of their coverage petered out at around Day 36, when the media realised that Obama wasn't really going to do anything other than be a President - and that role isn't actually that newsworthy on a day to day basis.

They'll be some celebration and some commiseration about Obama's achievement today - if you can call being in power for 100 days an actual achievement. After all, all he has had to do is not die or be impeached. Which most US Presidents, but not all, have been able to manage.

Whether you think Obama has been a success of not is really down to your political views - he's certainly done a great deal, but sadly spent a lot of money and grasped a lot of power for the state in the process. No-one should be surprised, though, at his actions in his first 100 days. He's been a Democrat; not exactly a revelation given the party he's a member of and leads.

But it is this defection - which puts Obama very close to having a filibuster proof majority - should be the big story now the first hundred days are at an end. And it is the motivations of Senator Specter that fascinates me. He's moved to Democrats because the Republicans have moved so far to the right. And with Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin acting as the de facto leaders of the Republicans, his claim can't really be disputed. And the Republicans are beginning to resemble the Conservatives in 1997 - lurching to the right because the party doesn't know where to go but instead is listening to the loudest voices.

The problem is that whilst a small minority love Limbaugh and Palin and their rabid ilk, it does not provide a coherent platform for realistic opposition within US Politics. Obama and co can laugh off the Republicans as fundamentalists, reactionaries and far right. They can dismiss their case without breaking into a sweat. Which further negates and already crippled opposition in the US.

The Republicans need to take the media manufactured landmark of Obama's first 100 days to take stock and find a platform that will appeal to the people. That is the first step to them becoming an effective opposition again. It may not win them control of Congress in two years or the White House back in four years, but at least they will have a coherent argument to oppose Obama. It is a first step in their recovery. However, this lurch to the right moves them further away from a coherent platform and being a credible opposition.

And they need to be a credible opposition more than ever now. Because, as the example of Britain in 1997 shows, a photogenic, popular young leader with absolute control of the legislature and no credible opposition can wreak havoc in that country. Unless the Republicans remember how to be in opposition, the same could happen in the US.