GOP lost its way, by Sylvia Smith for Biodun Iginla@ BBC News in London

Washington : DC : USA | about 1 month ago

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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2008 GOP lost its way, by Sylvia Smith for Biodun Iginla@ BBC News in London Published: November 16, 2008 6:00 a.m. Revival depends on return to core values
Commentary by Sylvia A. Smith Washington editor for Biodun Iginla @ BBC news in London

WASHINGTON – Republicans are tossing around the word “wilderness” a lot now, and they’re not talking about some remote and unpopulated section of Wyoming.

They mean political wilderness, as in: a dramatically diminished presence in Washington.

As in: For the first time in 14 years, Republicans do not control a single segment of the executive or legislative branches. No president, no majority in the Senate, no majority in the House.

As in:

• Traditionally Republican states like Indiana voted for the Democratic presidential candidate.

• Of 12 new members of Congress from New England and the mid-Atlantic states, just two are Republicans.

• Exit polls show that Democrats got more votes among young people, women, African-Americans and Latinos than did Republicans, who scored well among rural white men.

So, of course, Republicans are feeling a bit battered. They’re trying to balance the need for an honest assessment of how and why they landed in purgatory against the need for an ego-boosting pep talk.

Both are essential.

There can be no question that the Obama campaign was better organized, smarter, richer and more technologically savvy than the McCain campaign. Also, John McCain could not figure out how to separate himself from an administration the voters had come to disdain, if not despise.

The party can and should talk about structural things – how to catch up with the Dems when it comes to technology, how to be more competitive financially – as well as its content. There’s no question that the Republican brand has become blurry.

As for the pep talk, the party should not forget, as strategist Bill Kristol pointed out to a gathering of Republican governors last week, that in 1992, Democrats controlled the White House, the Senate and the House. But look what happened in the 1994 election: A wave of Republicans took the House and Senate majority, followed by control of the White House in 2000.

My wild guess is that more and more people will be squeezed by the economic chaos and that voters will be looking to spill some blood in the 2010 midterm elections.

But Republicans will have to give them a reason to make a change in a time of uncertainty.

They’ve got less than two years to figure out how to strengthen the party’s infrastructure and determine what lessons they want to take from the ’08 elections.

Did Democrats win overwhelmingly because the electorate has rejected the social conservative message of the GOP, or did the GOP just not explain it very well (or live up to it, a la convicted Uncle Ted Stevens)? Did voters say “no” to the fiscal and small-government principles of the Republican Party, or did the GOP stumble over that explanation, too, as well as not matching its rhetoric to action?

In other words, is America moderate-left (in which case it doesn’t matter how well the GOP clarifies and explains its message), or is it center-right (which means spruced-up communication and more money might do the trick)?

Rep. Mike Pence is in the camp that believes the flaw is not in the party’s message. He argues Republicans stumbled in communicating it and in demonstrating it.

He points to expansion of the government (the No Child Left Behind education program, the creation of a prescription benefit for Medicare, the $700 billion economic rescue plan) as ways national Republican leaders abandoned Republican principles.

Pence thinks the GOP should walk the walk without zig-zagging. But he also believes in clearer, calmer, less strident communication.

He’s poised to step into that role when he’s chosen this week as House Republican conference chairman, the third-highest member of the GOP caucus. As Republicans search for a “face,” Pence likely will often step up. Some governors are perhaps better choices, but it is more difficult for a governor of, say, Indiana to speak in a national context.

Pence will fill that role well, especially if he drops the constant refrain of being humbled by whatever plum situation he finds himself in.

I’ve never seen an angry, sputtering Pence in a public role. Even when his content is not moderate, he sounds calm and reasonable.

As part of the House leadership team, Pence may be able to stage more of the theatrics that have been politically clever (and sometimes effective). One example was the talk-in he and other R’s staged over the summer when Congress was on break. They came to the House floor almost daily to demand Speaker Nancy Pelosi allow a vote on an offshore drilling bill.

My view is that Pence and the Republicans left in Washington will have an opportunity to present an alternative case when it comes to the public purse but will be less persuasive when they veer into social issues.

Exit polls found that voters are emphatically concerned about their own and the country’s finances; more than six of 10 said it was their top issue. Matters such as whether the government should define marriage and how much more involved it should get in abortion were not what motivated voters this year.

If Republicans stay focused on their traditional views of smaller and less costly government, they will be in a much stronger position come 2010 and 2012. If they allow themselves to be distracted by the voices that call for an activist government (and judiciary), they will certainly appeal to the party base. But not to the wider population.

Republicans learned two weeks ago what happens when their votes come only from hard-core party members.

Sylvia A. Smith has worked at The Journal Gazette since 1973 and has covered Washington since 1989. She is the only Washington-based reporter who exclusively covers northeast Indiana. Her e-mail address issylviasmith@jg.net. Her phone number is 202-879-6710. Opinion | Columns

Joe Heller | Green Bay Press-Gazette

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SYLVIA A. SMITH

Sylvia A. Smith has covered Hoosier politicians in Washington since Dan Quayle was vice president. In nearly two decades, she's offered opinions and analysis as the state's congressional makeup shifted from mostly Democratic to mostly Republican and back again; two senators launched -- and dropped -- presidential campaigns; and Hoosiers' concerns have been addressed (or not) by Congress.

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