Republicans Soul Search After the Election

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright Nov. 17, 2012
All Rights Reserved.                                         

         Wringing their hands after losing to President Barack Obama Nov. 6, Republicans now try to pick up the pieces and figure out what went wrong.  Former 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney gave his own post-election analysis telling donors Barack played Santa Claus, buying off various groups with a host of government entitlements.  Romney’s statements throw gasoline on an already volatile relationship between today’s GOP and groups now backing the Democratic Party.  GOP operative Karl Rove, whose predictions were completely wrong, blamed Obama for “suppressing the vote” by running negative ads.  Mitt’s VP pick told the media they lost because Obama got more votes.  “We’ve got to have a very brutally honest review from stem to stern of what we did and what we didn’t do, and what worked and what failed,” said former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.

            Barbour’s suggestion hasn’t been met with intellectual honesty.  Instead of beating around the bush about how the GOP needs more minority voters, the Party hasn’t come to grips with its obsolete platform.  Religious conservatives continue to exert so much influence with all the pro-life and anti-gay marriage language that mainstream voters are turned off.  Not one Republican leader, including Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie or Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.), dares to raise the problem of religious conservatives.  “We were clearly wrong on a whole range of fronts,” said former House Speaker and GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, also pussyfooting around with politically-correct statements.  If Barbour’s really brutally honest, he has to toss out GOP Party Boss Grover Norquist, if he and his PAC don’t stop intimidating elected officials.

            Romney’s first major blunder was picking Norquist’s fiscal conservative protogé House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan.  Norquist’s “No Tax Pledge” has caused more damage to the U.S. economy than Sept. 11.  Any serious new beginning for the GOP must start with repudiating Norquist’s unfounded insanity of his “No Tax Pledge.”  GOP officials must stop Grover from intimidating GOP members of Congress who think it’s appropriate and necessary to raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires.  Brutal honesty involves recognizing impediments to progress.  Mitt’s comments about Obama buying off the vote are offensive to almost everyone, including members of his own Party.  Jindal called Romney’s public remarks “wrong,” insisting the GOP broaden its tent to include minorities.  Minorities, like everyone else, vote for candidates that advance their causes.

            Blaming Romney’s defeat on lacking “a specific vision that connected with the American people,” Jindal shows how little he knows about the election.  Beating around the bush doesn’t help Republicans get with the program to focus on real problems.  Picking Ryan sent the wrong message to independent voters, looking for some common sense and fiscal balance.  Ryan’s extremist ways on Medicare and Social Security frightened off Baby Boomers approaching retirement.  Any objective analysis of the polls shows that Romney hit the skids once he picked Ryan.  Had Mitt picked a moderate like Christie, he would have given Barack a run for his money.  Repeating the same mistake as Sen. John McCain four years ago in picking ultra-right wing former Alsaka Gov. Sarah Palin, Romney picked Ryan and paid the price.  No one in the GOP is honest enough to admit the mistake.

            Telling voters they’d have to accept more austerity under GOP leadership, Romney and Ryan turned off economically struggling voters.  Voters begged Romney and Ryan for a real blueprint of what they planned to do for the economy.  Both talked of cutting taxes and government spending.  Neither approach appealed to voters.  “We need to make sure that we’re not perceived as intolerant,” said Ron Kaufman, a veteran Republican strategist advising the Romney campaign.  Kaufman doesn’t talk about Romney’s disparaging remarks about the 47% who don’t pay taxes.  He never mentioned a word of Mitt’s offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands and Switzerland.  No Republican elected official talked of voters’ perception of Mitt as an out-of-touch rich guy, more concerned about giving himself another tax break than doing anything for working folks.

            Not one Republican questions the obsolete GOP platform that talks of protecting the rights of the unborn over middle class voters looking for a leg up.  Instead of bashing gay marriage, the GOP should stop playing obstructionist and focus on working with Democrats to fix Washington’s gridlock.   Romney’s entire campaign was built on bashing Obama’s economic policies, offering himself as the only alternative.  Whatever the economy’s problems, Mitt asked voters to ignore Labor, Commerce and Housing Departments’ reports all showing improvements.  “There are whole sections of the American people that we didn’t engage with,” said Gingrich, continuing the smokescreen.  Instead of going after minorities, the GOP should establish new priorities and revamp its platform.  It’s not rocket science to figure out mainstream voters don’t care about banning abortion and gay marriage.

 John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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