Road to Political Redemption

Andrew Sullivan had an interesting blurb on his Atlantic blog the other day, found here. Basically, it is a list that some base Republicans put together ranking their favorite & least-favorite conservatives.

Not surprisingly, moderates filled the list of people who needed to be expunged from the party, and the list of party darlings was full of predictable names like Krauthammer, Gingrich, Beck, etc.

Politically, I can understand the Republican's short-term strategy. You are the minority party running against a President during a bad economy, as he attempts to pass complicated, long-term legislation with only marginal short-term demonstrable effects. It makes sense to hammer against Obama and Congress, it seems like the smart thing to do to pick up a few seats in the midterms.

But once again, it begs the question, what exactly is the Republican long term strategy or agenda? As has been explained ad nauseam in political literature, the Republicans have first-and-foremost a demographics problem. It is simply impossible to retain national viability unless you can maintain high levels of support amongst hispanics, college educated urbanites, etc. Precisely the demographics the Republicans have been ignoring the past ten years.

The thing I don't understand is why so many Republicans seem to be unable to form a coherent long term strategy or message. They seem to be stuck on some vague, undefined notion of "Reaganism." This is odd, because when you read the writing of leading conservative thinkers, they often admit this is a shallow notion, simply because it doesn't comport with Republican governance of the previous 20 years.

Further complicating this is the layer of cashed-out intellectuals within the conservative movement who seem more interested in propping up their own fiefdoms of influence and popularity, rather than offering actual guidance for the party. The prime example of this is Bill Kristol, who by most accounts probably hasn't meant anything he has said for the last decade. Any time I see him speak, all I see is a person desperate to revive his now crumbled PNAC days of influence.

Even though it is still some time away, I look forward to the Republican Presidential primaries. I just don't see them being able to win back the Presidency until they solve their long-term messaging problem.