I agree that to be a national party the Republicans need to address issues that are reflective of changes in the electorate. That said, I also strongly feel that the Democrat base reflects a fair amount of racism, and you can't fix that by ‘addressing the issues’. A long-term strategy will require exactly what the Democrats did to Republicans: Paint them as extreme out of touch self-interested ideologues, create tension among factions within their voting block, and pick out the most extreme elements of their coalition and use them as the poster children for the Democratic party.
The long-term strategy also has to have a decades long component that targets the media and education system.
2010? Off year elections. Nobody voted: chech the numbers. 90 million voted in 2010. In 2012 it was 129 million. 2008 was 131 million. For reference in 2006 96 million voted. Smaller elections can induce a wave. Can the republicans make in roads in 2014? Sure. Can they win in 2016? Doubtfull without the Dems stepping on themselves via scandal or some other nonsense. Again, all about demographics. Demographics have moved significantly. 2008 to 2012 shows minorities picking up close to 2% of the electorate. 2% of 130 million? That is right 2.6. In certain states obviously much higher percentage. Look at CA? Reagan won twice Bush won in 88. Since then and one of the propositions that was seen as racsist the Republican Party has ceased to exist there. The presidential race is no contest.
I have read the Dems want to make 2014 all about min wage. This is a bad fight politically. Funny thing about elections though is the electorate decides what it is about. In 2010 the Tea party emerged and captured the midterms. Looking at polling I have a hard time believing that wave will happen again.
There have been a lot of complaints here about the president being in perpetual campaign mode. I find it smart. He stopped after 2008 and got killed in 2010. I do not think you will see a 90 million turnout in 2014.