With Midterms Nearing, GOP Still Searches For Agenda

Townhall.com ^ | June 3, 2014 | Byron York

[Kaslin]

The midterm elections are less than six months away, and Republicans still can't agree among themselves on what it will take to win.

The latest debate among party insiders is whether GOP House and Senate candidates should produce a document like the Contract With America that tells voters what to expect if Republicans win full control of Congress. But the fact that there is a debate at all indicates that the race is not shaping up as Republicans envisioned months ago.

Much of the anxiety concerns Obamacare. The six months between October and March saw the disastrous rollout of the exchanges, steep increases in premiums and deductibles for millions of Americans, the imposition of the individual mandate, higher taxes and other troublesome features of the Democrats' national health care scheme. Republicans saw public unhappiness as political opportunity.

But now that seems to have hit a plateau. Yes, more jarring changes are coming -- the employer mandate, the full imposition of minimum coverage requirements, and others. But President Obama has delayed several of those changes until after this November's elections. That has thrown a wrench into earlier Republican plans to exploit public discontent all the way until the election.

"There are no big implementation events to occur that could change the current equilibrium before November," says a well-connected Republican strategist. "So there is this sense that Obamacare has moved everybody that it's going to move, and that's not enough."

In addition, some GOP insiders are sensing that by November -- when the Obamacare exchanges have been up for more than a year -- the public will not see a Republican pledge to repeal as the answer to its unhappiness with the health care system.

"One thing you're beginning to see in surveys is the sense that we're so far down this path that repeal is not realistic any more," says the GOP strategist. "Clearly, they disagree with the direction of the health care system, but the idea that you can stop all this and go back to where we were before just seems unrealistic to a growing chunk of the population." A recent GOP survey found that a plurality of voters agreed with the statement, "The system has been changed too structurally that it is not possible to go back to the way it was before."

Put those concerns together, and you have the growing Republican feeling that Obamacare will not be as much of a driving motivation for voters as they had earlier hoped. And that's behind the talk about a new campaign pledge.

Most proponents don't want a literal version of the old Contract With America, which was a huge success for House Republicans in 1994 but devoted a lot of attention to internal House reforms as well as the extensive legislation GOP lawmakers promised to pass. After many re-iterations of the contract over the years, some GOP strategists believe another could look like a wish list that voters would promptly ignore.

Instead, some Republicans are thinking about focusing on two or three policy areas in which they will pledge major legislation to boost America's economy.

Three items under discussion are energy, regulation and tax reform. The energy part is relatively easy; Republicans support a variety of ways for America to capitalize on the revolution in oil and gas recovery, while Democrats seem determined to slow it all down.

Tax reform is more difficult, since Republicans do not agree among themselves on a big plan. But they could showcase individual measures, like ways to bring home the billions in cash that U.S. corporations have overseas.

As far as regulation is concerned, there is a concern that voters have heard the GOP's general anti-regulatory position over and over. Instead, Republicans might focus on one or two undeniably counterproductive economic restrictions as a symbol for Obama's across-the-board increase in regulations.

Health care remains a big question mark. Republicans have famously not been able to unite behind a single Obamacare alternative, and it doesn't look like they'll be able to do so anytime soon. Beyond supporting repeal -- nearly all Republicans still do -- it's hard to see what the GOP positive agenda will be.

Not all Republicans are on board for some sort of party pledge. While some think a contract-style agenda could put them over the top in close races, others "think the existence of such an agenda is just a recipe for further divisions down the road -- you don't want to over-promise and create backlash," says one Senate Republican source.

Most GOP lawmakers do agree on one thing: They hate "Republicans are divided" stories in the press. But the fact is, November is not that far away, and the GOP hasn't fully settled on how to run.

[Servant of the Cross]

Aaaaaaaggggggghhhhhh! As you know and have written extensively about ...

... this entire article is the very definition of GOP 'insider'/'strategist' "push-polling" cornucopia of their own B.S., pretending to reflect voter sentiment ...

"One thing you're beginning to see in surveys is the sense that we're so far down this path that repeal is not realistic any more," says the GOP strategist.[shove it Tokyo Rove & sycophants] "Clearly, they disagree with the direction of the health care system, but the idea that you can stop all this and go back to where we were before just seems unrealistic to a growing chunk of the population." [no, just to you mamby pamby loser 'consultants'] A recent GOP survey found that a plurality of voters agreed with the statement, "The system has been changed too structurally that it is not possible to go back to the way it was before." [only because your stupid survey didn't allow for any other reasonable response from an undereducated survey population you twits!]

[Gritty]

How about, "Bring Back America"... and then really mean it?

[C. Edmund Wright]

Yep, and pathetic Byron York is just an estab poodle now.

[Republicanprofessor]

This is what I think the Republicans should consider for a solid platform. I don’t think a “Contract with America” style publicity is a bad idea. Get the GOP out front with ideas and forget the dependency upon the traditional expected constituency. Appeal with ideas across the board and defend them rationally.

1) Eliminate the IRS. Beyond the fact that it is now corrupt, we can save money on bureaucracy, eliminate paperwork, institute a flat tax for all. My liberal friends like this; it has universal appeal.

2) Education. Growing college expenses and the fact that students are ill prepared for college shows this is also a ripe issue. The Democrats and their unions have had power over education for decades, and the results are inferior. This should be an issue.

3) The economy and stimulation of business. Come up with ideas for enterprise zones in those cities where Democrats have again dominated (and failed dismally: Detroit and elsewhere). Show how Scott Walker’s ideas have succeeded. Compare and contrast the prosperity of red vs. blue states and show why lower taxes, business incentives etc. have succeeded.

4) Balance the budget and reduce the debt. Reduce or eliminate subsidies for businesses. Eliminate pork barrel projects. Go through the budget with a red elimination pen.

5) Show no sympathy for corruption, on all sides. Be honest about Republican failings and show a desire to improve. Counter Democratic demagoguery and dishonesty with honest, down-to-earth points.

6) Vote for COMPLETELY NEW REPRESENTATIVES and as many new senators as we can get. We need new blood in the federal government.

These need much more thought and development, but they can begin to show people that Republicans are not just rich corrupt businessmen. We need to counter all Democratic lies and quickly.