2008 Woodie Awards
From Right Field: What football taught me about politics
Natasha Sell
Issue date: 10/23/07 Section: Opinions
If there are two things I love in life, they are football and politics. It doesn't get much better than spending a Sunday grilling steaks and watching a good Dallas Cowboys football game, unless we have a frustrating game like the one against the New England Patriots. There is something sad about watching your team defeat themselves mentally before the game even starts. However, watching that game made me think of how many people, after watching that performance, are now going to say the Cowboys are a bad team. An even more important question would be how many Cowboys fans are now going to sink into the woodwork, embarrassed to even wear a Cowboys t-shirt?
This game reminded me a lot of what the Republican Party is struggling with right now. We have the potential to be a good party and do a lot of good for the country, but we are not living up to that potential. Instead of playing by the game plan (or basic tenants) we are playing a totally different ball game-one that does not reflect who we are. As a result, people are now saying how bad the Republican Party is, and even registered republicans have thrown in the towel, saying they are tired of the political process.
Let me put it like this: We cannot judge a team by one game just as we cannot judge a party by one administration. Bush is not going to be in office forever, and whoever gets on the ballot in 2008 is not going to be a Bush clone. We cannot judge the 2008 candidates through the lens of Bush's administration. Just as Tony Romo was able to replace that disastrous quarterback Drew Bledsoe, I believe that we have many candidates who will perform better than Bush.
Sometimes political parties have people who come in and try to dominate the party, not realizing that their actions are actually only hurting the cause, like Donald Rumsfeld. Yes, I know he's no longer in office, but he always rubbed me the wrong way when he was. The way he lived in his own little world really put us in a tight spot as far as Iraq policy. Rumsfeld really dropped the ball by not listening to Colin Powell's recommendations as to the best strategy for Iraq, much like how Terrell Owens always drops the ball when you want him to score an important touchdown or gain yardage to get into end zone territory. They talk a big game, but they always drop the ball when it counts, putting the entire team, or party, in a tough spot.
This game reminded me a lot of what the Republican Party is struggling with right now. We have the potential to be a good party and do a lot of good for the country, but we are not living up to that potential. Instead of playing by the game plan (or basic tenants) we are playing a totally different ball game-one that does not reflect who we are. As a result, people are now saying how bad the Republican Party is, and even registered republicans have thrown in the towel, saying they are tired of the political process.
Let me put it like this: We cannot judge a team by one game just as we cannot judge a party by one administration. Bush is not going to be in office forever, and whoever gets on the ballot in 2008 is not going to be a Bush clone. We cannot judge the 2008 candidates through the lens of Bush's administration. Just as Tony Romo was able to replace that disastrous quarterback Drew Bledsoe, I believe that we have many candidates who will perform better than Bush.
Sometimes political parties have people who come in and try to dominate the party, not realizing that their actions are actually only hurting the cause, like Donald Rumsfeld. Yes, I know he's no longer in office, but he always rubbed me the wrong way when he was. The way he lived in his own little world really put us in a tight spot as far as Iraq policy. Rumsfeld really dropped the ball by not listening to Colin Powell's recommendations as to the best strategy for Iraq, much like how Terrell Owens always drops the ball when you want him to score an important touchdown or gain yardage to get into end zone territory. They talk a big game, but they always drop the ball when it counts, putting the entire team, or party, in a tough spot.
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