With no leadership, with no vision, political parties perish.
Since 2008, the Republican Party has lacked unifying leadership. During the 2008 election, Arizona Sen. John McCain was an also-ran. For months, he was running for office on a shoestring. Sen. McCain was one of many somber candidates, all of whom served as an unforeseen dress rehearsal for the weak Presidential candidates’ field of in 2012.
Mike Huckabee was a populist hick to many pundits, or a venal, Southern version of Richard Nixon to others (including Washington Post columnist George Will). Fred Thompson was lazy. Rudy Giuliani was crazy. Sam Brownback backed out early, the first of many Republicans to flip off Mitt Romney for his flip-flopping record. Tom Tancredo and Ron Paul were the right-wing versions of Dennis Kucinich and Carol Moseley-Braun (laughably unwinnable).
McCain the maverick (or the moderate, depending on one’s convictions ) blasted Romney as “the real candidate of change.” McCain won the nomination, but he refused to reject the George W. Bush stigma until the very end (“Mr. Obama, I am not George W. Bush”).
Fresh Out of Gunpowder
Lacking a controlled visionary to embrace a vision that welcomes widespread interests, the 2008 GOP had nothing to bring down President Obama, who represented a new direction (in the wrong direction, of course). This divide remains in the Republican Party. Washington Republicans are “pro-business” while neglecting the “limited government” portion. George W. Bush started this divide, and his poor leadership was the first in a long line of divided leaders who divvied their party’s power and distracted the country from recovery and prosperity.
There is no excuse for a lack of leadership in the Republican Party. But with Washington wanting one thing, and everyone else seeking something better, the split will grow into a gaping vacuum for Democrats to grab to their advantage. After six years of George W. Bush, the nation witnessed two wars long and lingering in the Middle East. Following intervention in the Schiavo case, followed by Medicare Part D, No Child Left Behind, and the Transcendent transportation bill, and even national populists like Pat Buchanan were whining in their winding Washington Post op-eds: “Who is W?” “Not My President” one rock group sang, with black tee-shirts displaying their rejection. “W,” the standard bearer, dragged down tough fights in 2006, like Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who lost by double-digits in Catholic, conservative Pennsylvania. Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine redefined himself as an independent, but it was too late for him. K Street, Jack Abramoff, and Tom Foley’s follies with male pages made a bad GOP brand worse.
No Explanation for Lacking a Leader
Despite these reasons, there still is no excuse for lacking leadership in the Republican Party. Without a positive, unifying vision, the GOP had no choice but to become the Party of No. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, whose grand stint on the Fox News Channel is ending, displayed more bombast than ballast. The GOP needs an alpha leader, not a Benji-like hound (like Karl (The Brain) Rove) or an attack dog who barks but has no bite (Rush Limbaugh).
Ronald Reagan was this elusive leader, summed up in one word: Optimism. On CNN's “State of the Union with Candy Crowley,” Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker opined once again about optimism. The Republican Party needs to be about growth and opportunity, options for the future, not just cuts for the present or reminiscence about the past. Three key characteristics will determine the new Republican leader: Relevant, optimistic and courageous.
Along with Walker, Virginia Gov. Bobby McDonnell, Saragota Springs, Utah, Mayor Mia Love and former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez define the new face of the Republican Party: Diverse, focused, outside of Washington looking in. They care about people, not just polls. They want to respond to people’s views, not just get their votes. They want to be inclusive, but they will not exclude their values, a principle Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal re-asserted last week.
These governors and conservative activists have channeled the grassroots spirit that was much needed but so lacking during the recent election. Their respect for unity pre-empted them from laying the blame for the GOP failure where it belonged: Mitt Romney. A weak Presidential candidate who did not really want to run, Gov. Romney did not fit like a glove. His 47 percent comment likely turned off Republican voters throughout the country, not just on-the-fence Independents and disaffected Democrats. Just as Bush soured the GOP brand in 2006 and 2008, a leader who really wasn’t a leader did not lead anyone to the polls in 2012. The right leader for the center-right party must be just right to right this party and this nation back to recovery and prosperity.
Ronald Reagan unified an ideological coalition of national, social, and fiscal conservatives. In 1984, he swept 49 states, including New York and Massachusetts. He did not achieve unity with attacks, bitterness or even fear, but with a vision of a better future that saw the end of Communism, the resurgence of the United States.
The GOP needs this leadership: relevant, optimistic, and courageous, not an attack dog, but a Leader of the Pack who will bring in the strays, the wounded, even the mutts.
Arthur Christopher Schaper is a writer and blogger on issues both timeless and timely; political, cultural, and eternal. A lifelong resident of Southern California, he currently lives in Torrance. He may be contacted at arthurschaper@hotmail.com, aschaper1.blogspot.com and at asheisministries.blogspot.com. Also see waxmanwatch.blogspot.com
