Redstate

By bs Posted in 2008 — Comments (7) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

In today's WSJ Opinion Journal, Peggy Noonan again demonstrates why I so enjoy reading her stuff. She paints a perfect picture of the deep problems the GOP has in 2008. The biggest case in the article is made by quotes from a memo created by Rep. Tom Davis. I loved this bit of insight from Mr. Davis:

But this week a House Republican said publicly what many say privately, that there is another truth. "Members and pundits . . . fail to understand the deep seated antipathy toward the president, the war, gas prices, the economy, foreclosures," said Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia in a 20-page memo to House GOP leaders.

The party, Mr. Davis told me, is "an airplane flying right into a mountain." Analyses of its predicament reflect an "investment in the Bush presidency," but "the public has just moved so far past that." "Our leaders go up to the second floor of the White House and they get a case of White House-itis." Mr. Bush has left the party at a disadvantage in terms of communications: "He can't articulate. The only asset we have now is the big microphone, and he swallowed it." The party, said Mr. Davis, must admit its predicament, act independently of the White House, and force Democrats to define themselves. "They should have some ownership for what's going on. They control the budget. They pay no price. . . . Obama has all happy talk, but it's from 30,000 feet. Energy, immigration, what is he gonna do?"

Unfortunately, Noonan's article is not a happy one. One of her key points is one that some of us have been making here for quite some time - that the current woes of the GOP are due in large part to President Bush's failures as a president and Republican leader:

Mr. Bush has squandered the hard-built paternity of 40 years. But so has the party, and so have its leaders. If they had pushed away for serious reasons, they could have separated the party's fortunes from the president's. This would have left a painfully broken party, but they wouldn't be left with a ruined "brand," as they all say, speaking the language of marketing. And they speak that language because they are marketers, not thinkers. Not serious about policy. Not serious about ideas. And not serious about leadership, only followership.

So now we are left with a Republican party that seems helpless - like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car. Right now it appears that all that is left is for us to "rebuild locally," as Clarke Reed is quoted:

What's behind it? "American people just won't take a long war. Just – name me a war, even in a pro-military state like this. It's overall disappointment. It's national. No leadership, adrift. Things haven't worked." The future lies in rebuilding locally, not being "distracted" by Washington.

We can get out and begin to rebuild from our local districts, as Bobby Jindal is doing in Louisiana. State and local GOP organizations must seek out solidly conservative candidates that can recapture the hearts of the party. We should work to capture the POTUS with McCain, but he is not going to be the future of the GOP - the question is: "who will be?"