Republicans must return to the message that veteran campaigners like former President Ronald Reagan and former Sen. Jesse Helms used. The modern GOP must be able to appeal to voters across the aisles like these two stalwarts of conservatism did. While both could be polarizing individuals, both were able to draw support from Democrats. But right now the party is not in such a position. Allow a clarification please - I don't mean for divisive politics by using Reagan or Helms (although as a colleague points out, Helms was quite divisive) but to design a message of fiscal and personal responsibility that can appeal across party lines.
To the average voter the party is fractured highlighted by a squabble between Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele and conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. While this type of perceived infighting can be damaging to the party, it can also be cathartic as well. The party must organize and return to grassroots efforts in order to retake the White House and the halls of Congress. But the question is how.
During a Lincoln Day Dinner in DuPage County last month, Steele called for the Republican Party to tailor its message to all voters, not just conservative voters. Steele said the party message must be something that would appeal to voters who most likely would align themselves with Democrat candidates.
We need a new approach that assures Republicans play in every state; take nothing for granted. We may not win everywhere we play, but we certainly won’t win if we don’t play everywhere we can... Once again, we need to speak directly to the hopes, concerns and aspirations of Americans. So let’s stop telling Americans what we’re against and instead articulate a compelling vision of what we’re for, how we’ll lead and where we want to go.
During last week's Conservative Political Action Committee meeting in Washington, D.C., Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty made a similar call. Pawlenty said the GOP must appeal to what he calls “Sam’s Club voters,” socially right-leaning middle-class voters who may have once belonged to a union, and who now care more about whether they will see their next paycheck than about issues like abortion or gay rights. Like Steele, Pawlenty said the GOP needs to do a better job appealing to voters who are not rank and file Republicans.
“We don’t have a big enough party to be throwing people overboard, and so while we may not agree all the time, if somebody agrees with us most of the time, they need to feel welcome, and there needs to be a spot at the table for them, too,” Pawlenty said. “You don’t win elections and you can’t govern and you can’t make a difference if you aren’t able to get a majority. So you have to be adding people, not subtracting people.”
The problem has been identified, but now comes the hard part - implementing the change.
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Please. Don't wish for or advocate returning to Jesse Helms-style campaigning, which was deliberately, mendaciously divisive and often tinged with racism. Americans, as seen by the broad, cross-racial appeal of President Obama, are beyond that. It's true that the GOP must find a new majority, but it must first admit that its past majorities, beginning with Nixon's Southern Strategy, are no longer there. Michael Steele, who seemed to be tailoring his inclusive message to appeal to "hip-hop" culture, appears to be as mired in the past as Jesse Helms' strategy is, though in a different past. GOP leaders must realize that they have to form a new majority based not on the divisive tactics of Karl Rove and Jesse Helms but on the principles of responsibility, both personal (sexual morality and restraint from immediate gratification) and governmental (fiscal restraint and balanced budgets). This is a positive message that will appeal to the broad center of the American electorate, which Democrats at first embraced and are now, thanks to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid (and to a lesser extent, Obama) in danger of offending.
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