[yldstrk]

The issue for the Republicans is coming up with a good candidate.

And I beg to differ that social issues don’t matter...

[Second Amendment First]

Even in good times, Obama would have a tough re-election. The 2008 election – featuring a weak GOP candidate, in a terrible political environment for Republicans - obscured the inescapable fact of modern politics: This is a 50-50 nation, controlled at the presidential level by independents.

[livius]

I think social issues do matter. People dislike Obama not only for his economic non-policies, but because of his support for every wacky hard-left social position out there combined with his support for Islam.

I think one of the problems with focusing too exclusively on one issue, such as debt (which in fact is the result of many other things and can’t be dealt with in isolation), we run the risk of getting a libertarian-type candidate who really won’t work up much excitement or offer much possibility of change (since libertarians and the left often coincide on social issues).