Some Republicans are trying to console themselves in the fact that once again, the election was extremely close – but the numbers ‘just’ fell on the other side. They will cite that the Senate turned ultimately on about 1500 votes in Montana and 7200 votes in Virginia – out of nearly 3 million cast. Other pundits will look at the 18 House seats that were won by less than 5000 votes, and say that there isn’t a mandate or clear message from the electorate to the newly elected. Some have gone so far as to say that it was Republicans who lost, not conservatives and point to the 7 states that passed bans on gay marriage and other conservative state initiatives that passed. Yet they are still missing the point.
As Michael Cruz pointed out, the Democrats took a mid-term ‘local’ election and successfully focused on national issues. But the Democratic success goes beyond this. Many of their new House members are more moderate to conservative than not only the Democratic Leadership, but also were positioned to the right of most of the Republicans that they defeated. But the biggest lesson to be learned from this election is that while the Democrats ran better than expected – the biggest winner was the voice of the American people against a Party and its Leadership that has lost touch with its core values.
The Republican revolution that started in 1994 ended this past Tuesday. It ended for several major reasons – but at the core was the fact that the Class of 94 morphed over the last 12 years into everything they ran against in 1994. The mantra then was smaller government, not larger; fiscal responsibility not irresponsibility; and peace through military strength. Unfortunately, the Republican Congressional leadership devolved from these positions into cronyism, greed, political expediency, and inept / indecisive leadership. Faced with this betrayal of the core values – a revolt was only inevitable.
As oblivious as the Republican leadership was to their abandonment of the core values that brought them to power, there also remains a clear ignorance to how the world has changed in politics. Politics never really was a polite endeavor – but Republicans seem to ignore that this more than just an occupation. With Abramhoff, Cunningham, Ney, Foley – and others, they have demonstrated that they have forgotten that right and wrong counts – and that greed / graft / unethical behavior can’t be tolerated or protected because of wealth or title. There are no entitlements. But, on the other hand, they also refused to fight and speak when wrongs were committed against their own…..the Delay issue was nothing more than a political takedown of an effective Republican leader.
Another pathetic example of this was the announcement yesterday by President Bush of the resignation of SecDefense Donald Rumsfeld. In the press conference – the President mentioned that this had been considered over the past months, but he didn’t make a decision earlier because he was concerned about being accused of trying to influence the election with the timing of the decision. Because he wants to play by the Marquis of Queensbury rules on a stage that doesn’t really have any rules, he made his job significantly harder for the next two years. That’s not leadership – and it doesn’t inspire confidence.
If the Republicans are to recover and regain leadership, they need to absorb the thumping they got and make some significant changes in their points of view. They can’t just withdraw and feel sorry for themselves because of the thumping – but fix their own house from lessons learned. They need to re-embrace their roots from the Contract with America and move forward. They need to focus on the real key issues facing this country – fiscal responsibility, immigration, tax relief, and re-educating the American people that we are in a global war where the initiative has swung to the enemy. They need to regroup in the same dramatic manner as the entire country regrouped in the aftermath of 9/11. Falling back to the same people, same tactics, and same ideas as tried under Bush 41 in 1992 are not going to lead to a repeat of 1994.
The Republicans need to start thinking today about 2008 – and not just the Presidential election. Now is the time to look hard at the leadership and elected representatives of the party and replace those who don’t share the same vision around the same core values with those who do. Now is the time to engage the new media and reach out to the American people – and do far more listening than they’ve done in the past. They need to accept that fact that reality isn’t always matched by perception – and the multiyear assault of largely negative news from the mainstream media still does drive perception – and combat it in the new media.
The Republicans lost this past Tuesday because they became intoxicated with their titles and power – and forgot what values and positions put them into those positions. They failed to assert the leadership that was expected of them, they failed to adapt, evolve, communicate, and engage with the American people – and lost their way. They cannot look at the results and convince themselves that a switch of a few thousand votes here and there would mask the core problems of the Party. We have to look at ourselves and correct our course returning to our core values and philosophies that brought success in 1994.
Ron Mechsner
