A bit of a tempest in a teapot. So Cantor gave a clumsy answer. Someone with Reagan's skills would have said something like,
"It is not about our party or theirs. It is not about wishing policies to succeed or fail. Good policies will succeed and bad policies will fail, no matter what anyone wishes. The real question is, are we helping the American people to succeed? Will passing on our massive debt to our children and grandchildren help them be successful? The policies of the current administration, while they may temporarily profit some of us now, will ultimately fail our children and grandchildren."
We may not have anyone with Reagan's ability to turn questions into teaching opportunities. Part of Reagan 's success was because he was there to do something rather than be something (be president, be popular with the Washington insiders). Likewise, Obama is there to do something (in his case, advance the cause of socialism). This is more dangerous than Bill Clinton, who was there to be popular and to be president because being president was cool.
We need someone who can communicate well but I am not sure what good it does to parse everyone's words and condemn anyone who cannot speak as well as Reagan could. It will be a miracle to find one Reagan or Thatcher. To expect every politician to be another Reagan is folly. That does not mean we passively accept it whenever anyone gives a poor answer or accept compromisers like McCain as the norm. But if we attack Republicans every time one gives a clumsy answer, we will have little time to do anything else.