The happiest spot in Washington is a four story white building, on First Street. It is the headquarters of the Republican National Committee.
Why shouldn’t they be happy?
The tea leaves are all looking good.
Barack Obama’s approval rating continues to tank. Democrat Senators are desperately running away from him. Many Democrats in Washington privately concede that absent a miracle, or massive voter fraud, the Democrats will lose their majority in the Senate this year. As evidenced by the departure of a number of senior Democrats on the House side, the Democrats have given up any hope of taking that body back.
However, the Republicans should not get too excited yet. And they definitely need to not be reading their own press releases. The country has not fallen in love with the Republican Party.
The American people are making war on the Democrats. After five years of the Great Obama Depression, the American people are tired of the Democrats. After seeing the monumental disaster that is Obamacare, they are tired of the Democrats.
Unfortunately for America, the only thing the Republicans are running on is the platform of, “We aren’t them!”
Isn’t that great?
How well has that worked out for the Republican Party in the past? If there were a credible conservative third party, America would see history in the making.
Instead, America gets the pale pastels of what passes for Republican leadership.
Perhaps a history lesson is in order. In 1980, Ronald Reagan swept Jimmy Carter out of office with a “banner of bold colors.” In 1994, Newt Gingrich ended 38 years of Democrat control of the House of Representatives with “The Contract with America.” The Contract with America was another banner of bold colors.
What does Republican Party offer America today, other than John Boehner’s freshly laundered white flag of surrender?
What agenda is the Republican Party running on this year, other than we aren’t them?
George W. Bush ran on the platform of “I’m not them,” in 2000 and 2004 and squeaked out two of the closest elections in American history.
In 2010, the Republicans at least gave the impression they supported the Tea Party and look what happened. It was the largest single shift in the number of seats in the history of the House of Representatives.
Today, Mr. Boehner and Eric Cantor are running the House like a football team runs a prevent defense. They don’t even think about winning, only not losing.
Unfortunately in football, running a prevent defense prevents the team from winning. The Republicans need to go on the offensive with a Reagan banner of bold colors.
The Republicans need a banner that will excite their base and motivate not only the base but the undecided voters as well.
All the Republicans need to do is pick on some high value targets.
Now is the perfect time to replace the IRS with a simple flat tax. In 2012, Rick Perry said he would offer a tax plan someone could file on a post card. Every American, except for IRS employees, hates the IRS. Tell America, April 15 is going to be just another day and half the nation will be voting on that issue alone!
Another great target are the Nancy Pelosi bills. Those are the ones that Congress must pass, “in order to find out what is in it.” Abolish 1500 page bills that Congressmen and Senator do not have time to read before they are called to vote on them.
There are literally dozens of issues the GOP can chose from that almost every American would approve of and that would advance a conservative agenda.
The Republicans have a choice. They can stand up for something and win a huge majority this fall or they can just play prevent and try not to lose.
There is only one drawback with playing not to lose.
Not winning.
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