What`s The Game Plan Here?

Submitted by Stan L. Hall

As a kid, my dad was one of those guys who would sit back and watch quietly as events played themselves out. If I were ever able to figure out a situation, which was not that often, he would stay out of it. But, inevitably, when he realized that a whole lot of wheels were spinning with little or no movement occurring, he would step in. With a solution most often in hand he would simply state, "what's the game plan here." In other words, it was time to cut to the chase.

I wonder and worry, if as a party, we may now be at this juncture when it comes to conservative politics and policies. We have been moaning and groaning for the last eighteen months or so as we continue to try and launch the USS "Blame Obama" ship as we head toward the next sea of elections. We're doing the same thing that the Democrats did when they blamed Bush for everything from excess government growth to a squeaky bed in the Lincoln Room. I personally believe that the squeaky spring issue might be the fault of another President that we know; not Bush. But, I digress. While we agree that we are unhappy with the way that Obama has been handling most everything, many people are still waiting to hear from us about how we would do it different. And not only what we would do differently, but who would be our leader as we go about doing it. As we approach a critical point with November elections, elections where we must at least take the House of Representatives, we are very vague about what our game plan is.

We hate the way that Obama has dealt with the economy. Check. We hate the way that Obama has forced national health care on us. Check. We hate the way that Obama has run up the national debt with bailouts. Check. We hate his decisions as they apply to illegal immigration. Check. We have no trouble in identifying what we dislike about President Obama's strategy. What we can't do is come to any agreement on what we will do when we get back in. The answer to most questions, regarding policy shift, usually ends with "well, we certainly will not do it like President Obama." We get that. But, many of us hope and pray that our game plan is a little more detailed than that. I hate it when the Braves games get rained out, but a better story would be if I had a plan to prevent future rainouts. Let's see the plan!

We, as conservative minded voters, should not have to ask the questions about what will we do different. The Republican Party should be publishing, speaking, and by any and all means available, shouting to the tops of their lungs about what we would do different. Each and every one of us should have access to policies that would change immediately if we are successful in the elections. This is true with not only the November elections, but the 2012 elections as well. And, as far as who the tip of this spear might be as our leader, I don't know about you but I don't have a clue. Is it Newt Gingrich, or is it Mitt Romney, or is it Sara Palin, or is it someone who is being groomed and manicured at the National Republican Spa and they just haven't told us about him or her yet? All I know is that when I am asked who we will put forward that can actually beat President Obama, I just say something like I'm not really sure, but we'll come up with someone. I hope that we know before long who that someone will be.

I am all for the slow and steady as she goes philosophy. However, at some point in time, we need to have a plan in place that is smart and that explains in great detail about how we will do it better. And, it cannot be the same plan that we had pre-Obama. That plan pretty much placed us in the position of spectators instead of players. And quite frankly, if we don't hurry up and get back in the game, this game may be over before we even get the play book published. Put us in Coach, we're ready to play!

If you would like to have Stan speak at your next group event, please send your requests to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Follow Stan on Twitter at twitter.com/stanlhall