Doing the November Cow

I’ve had occasion to relate a rather crass story about two bulls on a hill, the one young and the other old. First the story, then the application.

There were two bulls on a hill, the one young and the other old. The young bull surveys the cows below and with youthful exuberance, suggests to the old bull, “Hey, I have an idea. Why don’t we run down the hill and do one of those cows?” The old bull considers the young bull’s suggestion for a moment, then says, “Why don’t we walk down and do ‘em all?”

I was impressed by an idea expressed by one of Maria Angelica’s posts where she said,

“what you conservatives better understand is that winning the Latino vote would secure your political sway for decades to come. Liberals and democrats understand this. They cater/pander to the Latino community. If not for George Bush’s relative popularity among Latinos, you would have likely had a two-term Gore White House.”

You can read the rest of her piece, HERE.

So there is rabid vitriol afoot in conservative circles. You can join several facebook groups on either side of the debate, and the shouting match may further mobilize conservatives into an anti-incumbent frenzy that will last through November. Conservative’s will claim a well-earned victory, and the young bull will have run down the hill, spewing snot and other fluids, and will have done the November cow.

I, for one, would rather win the war than the battle. A strategic (old bull) would suggest a different approach. Here are some ideas:

• Better enemy selection. There are two possibilities. You can blame federal bureaucrats for inferior immigration policy (a view legal and non-legal immigrants agree with), or you can blame illegals (a view legals and non-legals despise). The President has taken a conciliatory approach and blamed the bureaucrats and thereby increased his already lock on the Latino vote. So what? you ask. If he enjoys a Latino lock in 2012, he will be nigh unbeatable.
• You are not going to ship all illegals home. There is not enough money or political will to build a fence (or any other barrier mechanism of man and materiel) deep, long and high enough to stop US entry. So you have an alternative. You can be like the guy in the bar in Belfast, Ireland who goes off on an ale-induced rant about the rotten English (nothing gets done, but it sure feels good). Or you can 1) understand the other position and 2) broker a solution that will win confederates that really enjoy high alignment with conservative aims.
• You can stop drinking Kool-aid.

Liberals are thinking of the 2016, 2020, 2024 and even the 2036 elections.  Conservatives are excited about November.  Take a lesson from an old bull.