Now that they've had time to pick themselves up and dust themselves off after Tuesday night's general election defeat, it is time for the Republican Party to fully assess what went wrong. In all reality, this was an election that Mitt Romney should have been able to win. History would tell us that past incumbents running for re-election in a bad economy have not fared well. Jimmy Carter was handily defeated by Ronald Reagan in 1980 due in large part to a high unemployment rate and out of control inflation. George H.W. Bush fell short in 1992 when the Clinton campaign convinced voters that "it's the economy stupid." Barack Obama was able to succeed where his predecessors had failed, but how? No president since Franklin Roosevelt had been re-elected with an unemployment rate above 7.1%, that is until Tuesday night. In my view, what should really concern the Republican Party is the fact that a pro-business nominee who touted his business credentials and ran on a platform to fix the economy couldn't win. Does this reveal a problem with the party's nominee, or the party itself? Some would say that Mitt Romney wasn't the ideal candidate because he wasn't conservative enough to appeal to the base of the Republican Party. Some have labeled him a Massachusetts moderate. While both of these may indeed be true, I think the reason for his defeat goes much deeper than that. I believe that a majority of voters in America feel as though Romney's party is not all inclusive. There is no disguising the fact that the demographic makeup of America is changing. The United States has more Hispanic, Asian, and Latino voters now than ever before. More women and young people are voting than at any time in recent history. Gay and lesbian voters have burst onto the electoral scene in larger numbers as well. While the Democratic Party has made a concerted effort to reach out to these key voting constituencies, the same cannot be said for the GOP. Fair or not, the Republican Party has been branded as the party of "old white men." While expanding the electorate is no doubt what the Republican Party needs to do, it might be difficult to accomplish. Doing so would almost certainly require the party to alter it's stance on a number of key issues like immigration, welfare, and gay rights in order to gain more votes from these key voting blocs. Some would say that Romney's defeat can also be attributed to a perception problem when it comes to the Republican Party. One common perception that many voters have of the party is that it cares only about the rich and wealthy, while casting aside the middle class in America. Romney's 47% remark that became a key soundbite in this year's campaign, didn't do anything to help change that perception. Until the Republican Party begins to reach out a welcoming hand to a growing, more diverse electorate, they will have a difficult time competing with the Democrats on a national stage. Perhaps the party can take heed of the old saying, "if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten."
Does the GOP need to make more room in the test? Yes, I believe they do. I think that was evidenced earlier this week. Room for who? I think we all know- Hispanics. Get ready because you are about to see the GOP make some massive shifts to offer some real incentives to Hispanics.
ReplyDeleteBoth parties have kicked the can down the road when it comes to immigration reform. Bush would have probably done some kind of amnesty but I think some of the far right would not have let that happen. One of the dozens of Obama’s unkept promises from the 2008 campaign was immigration reform. He said he would make it a top priority. Instead he promptly shelved that idea and went toward more lofty socialistic goals. Huge, borrowed stimulus with much of it going directly to states for Union employees, the purchase of 2 Auto Companies and Socialized Healthcare “reform”, better known as Obamacare.
Obama knew he was in trouble with this election. He had a lot of things going for him, media in the tank for him, great campaign team, resounding popularity despite his failures but he (or more likely David Axelrod) knew Obama would need an edge. The economy was doing poorly and unemployment was far too high. A strategic decision was made to pull the Hispanic voting bloc out of the closet and try to lure them in. So, after over 3 years of an aggressive deportation record, by some measures, even more so than Bush, he suddenly announces he will defer deportations under certain circumstances. Even though he really didn’t do anything major for them and obviously his ONLY motivation being to sway that demographic, he was successfully able to get them on his side.
So, what do I think will happen? The GOP will do what they should have done YEARS ago and embrace Hispanics who are generally conservative anyway. They don’t have to change minds or values, all they need to do is show the Hispanic Community they are ready to get some REAL immigration reform in place then welcome them in the “tent” so to speak. This could be the next “conservative revolution”. What makes me think this will work? Well it just so happens that I have worked with quite a few Hispanics at one point in my life and I also have a number of friends who are Hispanic. At least from my experience I tell you they are conservative. I am not talking “far right” conservative but they are all VERY hard workers and have conservative values. They are not interested in the free handouts that the Democrats have used to stack their voting demographic. A couple of my friends have built businesses up from the ground starting with nothing so they know success in this nation can be attained with hard work and determination. Most important of all they are well aware of the financial problems we are headed for with the entitlement and big-government spending that is inherent of the Democratic Party.
It is my opinion the Hispanics voted Obama not to support him but to punish Republicans, per se and wake them up. I am not sure all this will happen right away but gradually, I believe you will see a massive shift. Only time will tell. As for the gays you mentioned, personally I don’t see them as a huge bloc at least in the near future. I do think Conservatives should be more open to gays but Gay marriage should stay as a State’s issue as it has so far. In my opinion, the States can take that up as they please.