California Conservative

Since President Obama’s election last November, pundits have been writing the GOP’s obituaries on a weekly basis. This week’s obituary was written by Dick Polman, who stated thus:

Let us briefly sift the ashes. The party right now has no coherent message, aside from “Do Not Offend Rush Limbaugh.” Its messengers are basically conservatives who speak to the choir. It has virtually zilch appeal beyond its base, as evidenced by the ‘08 election and every subsequent poll; the party is alienating suburbanites, independents, Latinos (the fastest-growing cohort in the electorate), and people under age 30 (the voters who will dominate for the next half century).

Since the GOP “has virtually zilch appeal beyond its base”, perhaps Mr. Polman can explain why Republicans led Democrats in the generic ballot question this week. That’s after having gone several years of trailing Democrats on that question. How can the GOP lead in the generic ballot question if they’re losing ground on all these demographic groups? It’d be interesting to hear a coherent explanation on that.

It’s worth asking whether young people will continue preferring President Obama and Speaker Pelosi if they don’t change their spending habits. I’m betting that they won’t because young people understand that their standard of living drops each time interest on the debt sucks money that could’ve been lent to entrepreneurs who wanted to grow their businesses.

Salena Zito’s column takes a different perspective:

What he has left behind with his switch to the other team is everyone under the sun, as he gleefully dances on the supposed grave of the Republican Party after proclaiming its death by a thousand cuts.

“I think the reports of the death of the Republican Party are greatly exaggerated,” says Texas Tech political science professor Tim Nokken. “It’s been a rough couple of years for the GOP, but that doesn’t equate with death.”

So, no going the way of the Whigs, which is exactly what self-agonizing Democrats said about themselves after yet another defeat in the 2004 presidential and congressional election. “Many smart strategists were wondering if the Democratic Party was ever going to win a national election again,” says Democrat strategist Steve McMahon. Well into 2005, serious doubt existed that the 2006 midterms would be any better, he adds.

To understand what we need to do to regain majority party status, let’s ask these simple questions:

• Did the American people suddenly wake up in late 2005 & say “I’m sick of the government spending my money efficiently”?
• Did the American people suddenly wake up in late 2005 & say that they didn’t want their government doing everything necessary to prevent another terrorist attack?
• Did the American people suddenly wake up in late 2005 & say they weren’t being taxed enough?

I’nm betting that the American people don’t grow tired of being protected from terrorist attacks or having their money spent efficiently on America’s needs. Likewise, I’m positive that the American people, with a few exceptions, don’t think that they need a higher tax burden. But that’s just me.

We’d be wise to take some important points from Salena’s column about Michael Steele. Here’s one that’s especially worthwhile:

Democratic strategist Steve McMahon has worked with Dean for years and has known Steele since his days as a Maryland Republican committeeman. He says the new GOP chairman must adopt a 50-state program, as Dean did, to get his party back on track.

“His challenge is to recapture independents without pushing out the base,” he explained. The hardest part is pushing against the party’s nay-sayers who favor winning here and there rather than taking time to build for the future. “Steele has to remain focused,” McMahon said. “Do that, and the GOP will compete not just regionally but across the board again.”

Rebuild the Party started advocating the 50-state strategy right after the election. Instead of calling it the 50-state program, they’ve titled their approach the 435 district strategy:

By 2012, the Republican Party will field candidates in all 435 Congressional districts in America, from inner city Philadelphia to suburban Dallas, and our leaders must be held accountable for progress towards this goal. With an 80 plus vote margin separating Democrats from Republicans in the House, it’s time to widen the playing field, not narrow it. While our targeting has gotten narrower, honing in on a class of seats we feel entitled to because they lean Republican, Democrats have been stealing traditionally 60-40 Republican seats right and left. It’s time to return the favor.

What’s more, it won’t be good enough to run perfunctory races in safe seats. 2008 showed us that every seat, Republican or Democrat, is potentially a target. If you aren’t seriously challenged this time, chances are you’ll be challenged the next time, or the time after that. Incumbents who don’t prepare for this reality will find themselves scrambling to catch up when the inevitable happens. That means that our party needs to set a new standard that campaigns will be professional and fully staffed in each and every seat.

With few exceptions, every district should be considered a hotly contested district. Being competitive requires good messaging, good candidates and adequate funding. Being winners includes those things plus lots of hard work. The minute people start saying that they’re willing to run through walls to get good candidates elected is the minute the GOP will experience a rebound.

Here’s another Polman observation:

Fortunately, there are still some reality-based Republicans. Kristen Soltis, the research director at a top GOP polling firm, warned the other day that her party “is facing changing demographic forces that present a challenge to its long-term growth.” Translation: Unless the party wakes up and diversifies, it is toast.

It isn’t that we shouldn’t diversify. It’s that we should do it the right way. Doing things the right way is fairly simple: Be yourself. Make the most of each opportunity to tell people why limited government is in their best interest. Tell people why strict constructionist judges are the best guarantee that justice is served. Remind people that low taxes and fiscal restraint leaves ‘extra’ money in the pockets of families and entrepreneurs.

In other words, follow the Reagan model. Which brings me to my ’soapbox moment’: The people that think Reaganism is dead don’t understand Reaganite conservatism. As my friend Cindy, aka the Lady Logician, points out in this post, prioritizing things drove Reagan’s agenda:

President Reagan is said to have taken the following position on legislation. He supposedly said that if the legislation did not make the country safer, more prosperous or more free then it was not worthy of his support. THAT is what Republicans should be focusing on!

Those guiding principles are still appealing today because they’re eternal principles. The sooner the GOP understands eternal principles, the faster we’ll return to majority party status.

Finally, it’s worth remembering that Sen. McCain’s appeal to independents was when Sarah Palin joined the ticket and appealed first to the base. Until your base is energized, you can’t play on the other guys’ side of the field.

Technorati Tags: Obituary, Michael Steele, RNC, Conservatism, Fiscal Restraint, GOP, President Obama, Howard Dean, Steve McMahon, Democrats, Pundits

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 3rd, 2009 at 9:36 am and is filed under Author: Gary Gross, Conservatism, DNC, Economy, Election 2010, Obama, Palin, Taxes, W. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.