What Republicans need to do
Charlie Cook looks at advice from some GOP pros and offers some suggestions. They are not bad, but they failed to look at what the Democrats did to win. The Democrat campaign for the last eight years has primarily been focused on saying the Republicans and their leaders were screwing up. It did not work in 2002 and 2004 because the evidence did not support it and the Bush administration was effective in fighting back.
After 2004, the administration seemed to quit fighting back. It became a stoic punching bag on issues like Iraq and the economy. Even when the surge in Iraq was clearly winning, it remained on the defensive fighting off Democrat attempts to lose the war rather than attacking their defeatism and disastrous policy positions. Thus when the war was won, the Democrats could skate away from their mistakes without having to face responsibility for the major screw up they were pushing for.
On the economy, the Republicans were not effective in making the Democrats take responsibility for the mess they made in the mortgage market which led to the economic decline. This is an area they still need to be fighting on.
The fact is that "change" elections occur when there is a perception that the party in charge has screwed up. If the Republicans are going to regain power, they are going to have to focus on Democrat screw ups. They will have many opportunities. The economy and energy will be two areas where the Democrats will get it wrong. Their instincts on national security will also get them in trouble eventually. The Democrats will be desperate to get Republicans on board to bate bipartisan responsibility. But they should remember the lessons of 1994 when the Democrats had to vote for their tax increase on their own and they had to take responsibility for their health care debacle the voters decided it was time for a change.
After 2004, the administration seemed to quit fighting back. It became a stoic punching bag on issues like Iraq and the economy. Even when the surge in Iraq was clearly winning, it remained on the defensive fighting off Democrat attempts to lose the war rather than attacking their defeatism and disastrous policy positions. Thus when the war was won, the Democrats could skate away from their mistakes without having to face responsibility for the major screw up they were pushing for.
On the economy, the Republicans were not effective in making the Democrats take responsibility for the mess they made in the mortgage market which led to the economic decline. This is an area they still need to be fighting on.
The fact is that "change" elections occur when there is a perception that the party in charge has screwed up. If the Republicans are going to regain power, they are going to have to focus on Democrat screw ups. They will have many opportunities. The economy and energy will be two areas where the Democrats will get it wrong. Their instincts on national security will also get them in trouble eventually. The Democrats will be desperate to get Republicans on board to bate bipartisan responsibility. But they should remember the lessons of 1994 when the Democrats had to vote for their tax increase on their own and they had to take responsibility for their health care debacle the voters decided it was time for a change.
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