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As they prepare to settle in for another four years of President Barack Obama, Republicans are already busily working on their roadmap to retake the levers of power in Washington. Whether they will need a modest re-calibration or a wholesale reinvention remains an open question.
Obama's November victory arguably marked a new low point for the GOP. The Republican Party now wrestles with a president unburdened with the stresses of an impending re-election campaign and enjoying relatively high popularity.
What’s more, Obama has already worked to set in motion an aggressive – and mostly progressive – agenda that makes most conservatives cringe.
For Republicans, the work to re-position themselves to win back the White House in 2016, and, before that, shore up majorities in the House and Senate, has already begun. And a key step toward reaching those goals, said Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, involves making the party more inviting to voters who do not traditionally compose the party’s base.
Jason Reed / Reuters
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus gavels the 2012 Republican National Convention into session during the opening session of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida August 27, 2012.
“We didn’t lose Wisconsin because we weren’t Facebooking pheasant hunters,” he said. “We need more voters.”
Democrats’ victories prompted a round of hand-wringing and recrimination in the immediate aftermath of the election. Having been drubbed among women and Latino voters, some Republicans argued for finally embracing some sort of immigration reform, and directed their ire toward those high-profile Republican candidates who made controversial comments about abortion and rape that fall. Still others pointed to the Obama campaign’s decisive advantage over Romney in digital outreach and voter targeting, while others laid the blame for the party’s defeat squarely with Romney himself.
“This certainly isn't the first time a party loses a presidential election and has to figure out how it does better,” said Henry Barbour, a Republican National Committee member from Mississippi who’s helping to lead the “Growth and Opportunity Project,” the RNC-commissioned review of the party’s failings in the 2012 elections. “Things are never as good as you think, or as bad as you think.”
Some of the project’s recommendations, which are on course for release as soon as March, are glaringly obvious. Republicans are virtually unanimous in agreeing on improved digital tools to court voters, as well as improved outreach to key voting communities – like Hispanics or women voters.
Priebus said he’s taking a cue from former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean’s “50 State Strategy” he enacted as chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
“We have to compete everywhere again. You go back and look at the electoral map in 1988, and you look at the states that were red. It’s stunning,” he said. “I think the charge for us is to run up the hill and make the case everywhere that the Republican Party is the home for more Americans.”
'Battle over strategy'
But as party leaders fan out to hear from elected officials and grassroots activists alike about the trajectory of the party, the GOP on Capitol Hill has been anything but a tribute to party unity.
If House Speaker John Boehner’s remarks about accepting new revenue in the aftermath of Obama’s victory were emblematic of Republicans’ soul-searching after the election, then the weeks since then have painted a vivid portrait of just how divided the GOP is about its path forward.
“If we’re split on anything, it’s on strategy, not the final goals,” said Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., a darling of conservatives. “I think what you’re seeing now is a battle over strategy, not over principle.”
Must-Read Op-Eds: Mika Brzezinski reads from Joe Scarborough's latest Politico column on how the GOP can win future elections, and that is by electing "candidates who can win sweeping majorities." The Huffington Post's Arianna Huffington joins the conversation.
The battle over the so-called fiscal cliff laid bare many of the fissures that plagued Republicans in Congress for the past two years, bringing the government to the brink of shutdown several times and almost tipping the government into a default on its debt. The party’s ability to speak with one voice has been hampered by familiar internal, ideological divisions.
When Boehner offered to raise taxes on millionaires – a concession, but one that Obama dismissed outright – conservatives undercut their leader’s bargaining position by refusing to pass it out of the House.
Even when Democrats won an income tax hike, it was over the objections of most House Republicans; Boehner won another term as speaker over the defections of some high-profile conservatives, including Mulvaney, who did not vote.
“I do believe that, as a party, we need to focus on the things that unite us,” Barbour said. “Folks in the party aren't going to agree on everything, and that's OK. The Republican Party is a diverse, broad party.”
And as party leaders attempt to put a fresh face on the Grand Old Party, the first few months of Obama’s second term seem destined to test the divisions among Republicans.
The president has signaled his intention to seek comprehensive immigration reform and new, stricter controls on firearms – two initiatives that could split conservatives who want to hold the ideological line from Republicans who wish to shed the party’s image of intractability, and cut some sort of a deal with Obama.
Those battles will play out alongside what’s expected to be a bruising fight in just a few weeks over raising the debt ceiling, continuing government spending and dealing with the automatic spending cuts in the fiscal cliff, which were delayed for two months past the beginning of this year. The deadlines for all three of those issues fall within a few weeks of each other in late February and early March.
'We have a mish-mash'
And already, some Republicans are openly discussing the possibility of a shutdown or default, things which Boehner and other GOP leaders had openly disavowed during similar fights in 2011. Mulvaney said “the world is not going to end” if the U.S. defaults on its debt.
“No one wants to default; not even the most right-wing nutjob wants to default,” he said. “But do we want to throw money at paying the light bill at the Department of Education?”
But as Republicans wrestle with these divisions, there’s always the hope of the one development that seems to solve most problems in politics: winning.
After Romney’s loss and Boehner’s struggles with his rank-and-file, Republicans lack for any natural leader behind whom the party could rally. The country is still years away from the next presidential primary, a contest which might test many of these same fault lines within the GOP.
“It's absolutely a challenge that we face. The Democrats have Barack Obama, and we have a mish-mash,” Mulvaney said. “We have the speaker of the House, the minority leader of the Senate, various outside groups and very vocal folks over in the Senate, along with a cast of presidential cast-offs in the last four years. We haven't really coalesced yet.”
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Rape remarks sink two Republican Senate hopefuls
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We all know why Republicans and Tea Party types have been obstructing and sabotaging our economic recovery, plus obstructing and sabotaging everything else: To keep themselves from being investigated, indicted and prosecuted. It's all been a smokescreen to keep the Democrats busy so they didn't have time to prosecute Republicans. The right wing sabotage of our economic recovery just made it easier to mess with the Democrats while they were working to keep civilization from dropping into the Stone Age - further proof of Republican treason...
I, frankly, do not believe that the GOP can recover from this last election. But, it is their own fault. The field of potential nominees was irretrievably flawed from the start. None of the candidates were broadly acceptable to the electorate; including other Republicans. Each candidate seemed to stake out some bizarre corner of political thought to advance their individual candidacy. The Republicans lost because they couldn't find a quality candidate to run against a buffoon. For the Republicans to lose to the most incompetent idiot who has ever occupied the Whitehouse is unconscionable, and yet, they did. I honestly believe that the only hope for this nation is the emergence of a third party. I am already looking very seriously at Rand Paul for the next election, as I think the emerging Republican candidates are sadly lacking. With the exception of the Libertarian views on Narcotics I find myself in much closer agreement with the Libertarians than I do with either of the major parties. The only difference between a Democrat and a Republican is what they want to spend YOUR money on.
I will probably be casting my vote for Rand Paul and a host of other Libertarians in future elections.
I, frankly, do not believe that the GOP can recover from this last election. But, it is their own fault. The field of potential nominees was irretrievably flawed from the start. None of the candidates were broadly acceptable to the electorate; including other Republicans. Each candidate seemed to stake out some bizarre corner of political thought to advance their individual candidacy.
And Rand Paul's anti 14th ammendment stance isn't bizarre?
Rand Paul was off in Israel this week on an all expenses paid junket that AIPAC uses to get politicians to vote for Israel's interests. He is now bought and paid for. With him are a group of wing-nut Evangelicals hoping to get raptured. While on his trip his 19 year old son got drunk and assaulted a stewerdess on a plane. Such an entitled little creep! Like father like son, like father like son. Notice what I mean? Rand Paul has less than a chance than his father.
Why can't I see what the GOP is claiming , I live in an Urban area packed full of middle class homes . Every morning 90% seem to get up between 5 and 8 . Lights come on , dad goes to work , mom gets kids off to school and she heads off . Some have new cars , but most have something used . WE get together on the weekends and tell B/S story's . Just like it was when I was a kid .
NO roaming packs of gang bangers , very few homes in disrepair , a few forclosures here and there . But mostly middle of the road middle class Americans just living life .
And you know nobody is running around with a big D or a R on their back claiming a political party of choice.
Just Americans with dreams
There are several major reasons the Republicans lost a presidential election that, based on the economy, should have been an easy win:
1. Their candidate. Romney had no personality, had terminal foot in mouth disease, and was seen (correctly so) as a rich guy totally out of touch with average people. The sad thing is, he was their best candidate. Everyone else came across as right wing nut jobs, or just plain idiots.
2. The Republicans worked for 4 years to make Obama look bad by obstructing any initiative he proposed, whether good or bad. The people want the parties to work together for the good of the country, not play games or obstruct government for partisan gain. You can't fool all of the people all of the time.
3. The Republicans are seen (correctly so) as the party that protects the rich, and wants to cut programs that help the poor.
4. The Republicans in the House of Representatives are seen as driven by a right wing ideology, that embraces drastic spending cuts, while being unwilling to raise taxes even on the highest earners. It is obvious to any rational person that to solve the structural deficit, major spending cuts and tax increases will BOTH be necessary.
Until the Republicans show a willingness to make reasonable compromises, they may win local elections, but on an overall national level they will be a permanent minority party.
Far be it from me to want to help Republicans, but their behavior as a minority party is critical. If they continue to obstruct aid for Sandy victims, be against every thing which reins in corporate activity, and continue to choose to be against women's health and sanctity of the bedroom, their brand will continue unchanged. At this point they are chickens who run from the feed trough of social conservatives on one side and then have to run back to the other feed trough of fiscal conservatives on the other. Until they decide to work for America, rather than themselves, they are doomed.
Not much of a competitive advantage if you ask me from their current strategy:
1) Give all the money to the rich people
2) No new taxes ever
3) You're on your own
a) Especially if you are not a heterosexual white anglo saxon male
Before the election, when the "wanna be's" were running to be the one to replace Obama, I mentioned that with their "war on women", they would lose the election. Several of the pukebags told me I was full of excretement. Guee what pukebags, you LOST THE ELECTION.
I stated you lost almost all of the Independent women's votes, you made fun of me. Guess what, YOU LOST THE ELECTION.
Now would you real GOP people want to hear some more predictions? As long as the GOP maintains it's status quo, you will continue to LOSE the White House, and more and more seats in Congress. Go ahead, make fun of me, like you did last time. And after our 2014 elections, I will be saying the same thing, YOU LOST THE ELECTION.
I realize some of you will not believe me. Think about this, how much money did the GOP spend, how much voter caging was done (and we know it was done) and how many electronic voting machines were tampered with?(and that was also done). With all three of those things being done, YOU STILL LOST THE ELECTION. Must really be a shock to realize that you and your friends are LOSERS.
Need anymore be said?
It sounds as if the GOP want's to "trick" more people into voting for them by inciting them with carrots. Nothing was said of them lightning up on their doctrines of Greed Guns and God. No matter what they say, the GOP will still be controlled by the wealthy corporations and individuals bent on making the rich richer by making the poor poorer.
Big energy users in Wisconsin are getting breaks on rate increases at the expense of other businesses and homeowners.
Regulators worked to limit utility rate increases for big factories and other large energy users this year, and that means higher power prices for others.
Public Service Commission chairman Phil Montgomery told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the move is by design and is meant to foster Gov. Scott Walker's job-creation goals.
In rate cases finalized last month involving utilities in Milwaukee, Madison and Eau Claire, large manufacturers received smaller increases than homeowners and other businesses.
Commissioner Eric Callisto, who chaired the commission under Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, broke from the Republicans on the commission in objecting to the breaks for large manufacturers because they pushed rates higher for other businesses.
On the local and state level, the Republican party does fine. The problem is on the national level. The media does not like conservative government and they rally to discredit any candidate for national office. Consider the last election. We ran our exposed our candidates one, by one, state by state. They were like sitting ducks in a shooting gallery. By the time Romney was selected, the party image was shattered.
I think the state primaries should all be run on the same day and have the candidate selected at the national election.
And don't think you can compete with the Democratic party by giving things away faster than they can. We will lose. We need to be a party of principle. Someone tell me what the party stands for. Remember, the Democrats did not win that last election, the Republicans lost it.
so, did the GOP lose because of the evil media?
or because the GOP has forgotten its principles, and runs marginal candidates who get beaten up by their own party?
The GOP problem is their own. Bush won at the national level even with the evil media.
I agree that the primary system is broken, and the GOP needs to get back to a set of principles that can appeal to americans as a whole.
Well actually Bill, we Democrats did win the election. It's only a Republican bromide to say that you only lost it. If voter gerrymandering, voting times, and outright fraud did not sway the numbers, the GOP would have lost by a much greater margin.
Bill, I agree with you that the party needs to get back to principles and select a candidate that best espouses those views. The flip-flopping from extremes in the primaries to the center in the general election is the worst to overcome. I might have voted Republican this year had they a candidate who would have stuck to the principles that the Republican party used to hold. For example, they talk of fiscal responsibility, but very few in the government act on such a principle.
Sorry Bill, what happened in this election and will have a trickle down effect to the local and state level especially if the Repubs keep up their obstructionism. As is, here in Florida our crook, Tea Party, Governor is despised and will be gone in 2014 along with many other Republicans after their attempts to commit fraud with voter registrations , take voters off registration rolls and limit voting times. A big payback is coming in 2014. Our governor has yet to hit 30% in favoribility ratings.
An even larger problem for the GOP is that whenever one of their own moderate voices attempts to speak constructively to the party's issues they are immediately and venemously castigated as being a turncoat or fake. I personally can see some redeeming qualities in persons like J. Bush, Jindal, Christie and some others, but you can bet their observations will be pushed aside by those who still think the earth is flat.
right, they are evil RINO's. The GOP is eating its own
Here's the first problem: "we have to cut everything and fire everybody" works when you're the CEO of a corporation, and no one argues with you. When you have to actually DEAL with everyone involved, you may have to think of ways to ACTUALLY save money.
Here's the second problem: you need to argue sensibly about things like immigration and women's issues, and not act like you're smart and everyone else is an a**hole who "hates Jesus". This just makes you look like an ignorant redneck, instead of an intelligent person with an actual point to make.
Oh yeah, and you're also going to have to do actual things to help minorities, instead of just telling them they're stupid for not voting for you. Paying some guy off the street to put a suit on and stand behind Mitt Romney to make it look like there aren't only white people in the audience isn't selling your product very well...just saying...
The minority population is growing at a rapid pace in this country. The republican party needs to transform the minority population from a democratic leaning group to one who understands and accepts the principles of the republican party. This will have to come from educating this population group. Help them understand that the democratic party is actually holding them back, not helping them. If the republican party does not succeed in swaying the minorities, the party will be lost in the rear view mirror of history.
The "party of hate" will never change so minorities will continue to run from it. With it's God's of Limbaugh, Beck, Savage, Ingraham, Malkin, and other hate-mongers they will never lose the label. Do you really think that Limbaugh's "slut" comments helped the GOP? When Romney was asked about the comments all he said was those aren't the words I would have used since he didn't want to offend God Limgaugh.
They'll likely go for the Hindu vote,by demanding public schools teach the earth to be on top of a turtle shell....
Once again, the GOP is threatening to destroy the nation if they do not get their way. This time, it's the debt ceiling. Why would ANYONE, ANYWHERE vote for these people. It's like a teenage girl threatening to hurt herself if Daddy doesn't buy her a new car. Please people. Keep waking up. Get the Tea Party bums outta office in 2014! But beware, we MUST hold Pres Obama responsible for getting some spending cuts done....AT THE PENTAGON.
I'm for term limits for all these clowns elected to office in the federal government. No retirement plan! Health care while they are in elected office only. Two weeks paid vacation while in office. No traveling back and forth from Washington DC to their home state every weekend at taxpayer expense. No pork barrel spending on ANYTHING!!! Should be against the law.
They should have the same limitations that the rest of have while we are working. Democrats and Republicans have put this country into a financial mess. Now we need political entrepreneurs to fix it. From both sides of the aisle.
Boehner and the house create a budget bill.....Reid and company table it. They should all be looking at jail time for sitting on their hands and doing nothing. If I did nothing when my boss gave me a project to do, I would get fired. They should too!!
None of them have any moral compass to do what's good for the country.
The GOP/TP will never change! They cannot change! As long as there are so many different factions inside their group, change cannot happen!!! Once they all decide to join the 21st century, then maybe? Come 2014 there will be a huge change in the GOP/TP! After that, who knows? Perhaps they can unite as one, after they really have their asses handed to them??? Its going to take a nuke to get them to realise just how far gone they truely are!!!
It would be a step forward if the GOP removed the TP Representatives it now has in the House and ran sane individuals to take their place. I don't know if that would change anything for them considering their current ratings, but it would be a beginning.
The GOP is about to embark on a strategy of trying to deceive the public about who they really are and who they really represent just after pushing an extremist Grand Old Party Agenda to the Tea Party max. Too late. They have isolated themselves from minorities that they now can't win without and relegated themselves to a self induced slow, agonizing, well deserved death. The sooner that happens the sooner this country can begin to heal itself from the legacy of a major political party with a long history of bigotry and hate. Guaranteed they won't go away without making as much noise and trouble as they can and it may not happen in my life time, but they will go away. A second party is bound emerge one day that will be inclusive, diverse and center right. Maybe they should call themselves the HOP... Humble Old Party.
And in other news, some cranky little uneducated republican guns nuts are talking about over throwing the government because their party had their butts handed to them last Nov. and they are paranoid about their rights to own an arsenal!
It's going to be a very long time for the angry white men to get rid of the monniker of "the party of hate" the way they are going. They care little for the poor and middle class and have made it clear that they care more for their lobbyists, Grover Norquist, lobbyist for the wealthy, AIPAC, lobbyist for Netanyahu's Israel, NRA, gun lobby and of course their neo-cons, lobbyists for war. Their Evangelical base are racist religious fanatics that hate women, gays, and anyone different from them. Another of their Congessmen this week was talking about rape again this week clarifying Mourdock's and Akin's comments. How funny! They just never learn since they are so stupid. The GOP is now planning "sensitivity training" for its members. Not going to work with hate so ingrained.
Game Over! Grand Old Party is finished!!!!!!
gd in Colorado, did you ever hear the old saying "Wish in one hand, sh-t in the other and see which fills first". I do agree with you
The only way Republicans will gain voters is to lie about their intentions. They have become increasingly radical over the last thirty years. So radical in fact that the health reforms they proposed during the Clinton Administration are now considered Socialist.
Their policies have stagnated middle class progress for more than 20 years and have benefited only the very wealthiest Americans. Their policies will produce the kind of societies common in the Middle East. Societies with very few extremely wealthy families, extreme poverty for the majority and the entire country under the direct control of the State Religion.
Societies that they claim to despise, like Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Exactly correct...
Good luck with that. Today, the GOP is the party of the extreme right and no extreme, whether from the left or the right will ever succeed. Yes, extremists are very vocal, but there will never be enough of them to win an election. The views of the general population follow the statistical bell curve, and by definition, extremists will always amount to those small percentages at either end of the curve.
When you sign pledges stating what you will not do under any circumstances, you are being a fanatical extremist. You need to learn to compromise, just remember what one of our great Republican Presidents once said:
" People talk about the middle of the road as though it were unacceptable. Actually, all human problems, excepting morals, come into the gray areas. Things are not all black and white. There have to be compromises. The middle of the road is all of the usable surface. The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters."
Dwight D. Eisenhower
And we had the Republican Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater say "Extremism in the pursuit of liberty is no vice". And he lost the election. The Tea Party is the new John Birch Society.
here's an idea...maybe try being "conservative". As in, not crashing an economy, exercising some restraint with starting fights at home and abroad, and doing something to conserve the safety and well being of our population and environment.