so many thoughts... so little time...
--- first just some thoughts on a recent memo that some consultants sent out to Republican leadership - http://www.ajc.com/metro
Soo...apparently the GOP is hurting from its identification with George W. Bush? No way! This reminds me in a sense of Scott McClellan's "shocking" revelations ...The Bush administration had a vested interest in pushing for the Iraq War? No way! Sarcasm aside, i think this memo represents some valid points/principles that the Republican leadership absolutely needs to hold on to. This is a party that is truly is suffering from "brand identification" issues... and while i could probably write pages of my responses to the various points made in the memo, i just want to highlight one that has continued to strike a chord with me....
"The final image problem the Republican brand is suffering is a perception fostered by the media of being intolerant. The media has assisted in helping Democrats by saying that the Republican Party is closed to moderates while Democrats are now open to conservatives such as Heath Schuler, Travis Childers, and others. This turns off swing voters who may be conservative on pocketbook or defense issues but more moderate on social issues. Another key issue to the base in which the media and Democrats have cast Republicans as intolerant to great success has been immigration reform. While this issue remains a fissure issue, Democrats have been able with the media’s assistance to paint Republicans as anti-Hispanic and against all immigration. A key message that has been missing in this argument is that the Party is against illegal immigration but for legal immigration."
This is at the very heart of my argument for the return of "Compassionate Conservatism." As one of those "swing voters" I feel that this analysis of the GOP image problem is dead-on, and could just as easily be applied to main-stream evangelical Christianity -- where its members are being increasingly cast as "intolerant" and known more for who they are against than for Whom they are supposed to be living for.
The GOP leadership needs to get over itself, and take a good hard look at what it is that the American people are NOT getting from the party. I genuinely believe that especially with my generation ("Generation Y" , the current 20-somethings, and Gen-X, the current 30-40 somethings) we are so tired of the same rants, the same fear-monging, the same blame-games.... This is not to say that the Democratic Party, or its new Figurehead (Mr. Obama) are necessarily the answers, as much to say that they have done a much better job of really attempting to connect with the issues and underlying concerns that are bugging so many of us. I am personally skeptical of Obama's campaign for "Hope" (more on that in another blog posting, i promise), but i admire the fact that atleast he has tried to tap into the general feeling among americans that we need a revitalized government, with revitalized leadership. And the Republican party as it stands doesn't even come close to offering this. I think some of the leadership realizes this, as we were pounded constantly during the primary season with worshipful calls back to "Reaganism" and a return to "True Conservatism." While the idolation of Reagan is a little ridiculous, he represented the absolute zenith of the GOP in terms of its relationship with the American voters. News flash to GOP leadership: Reagan is dead, and he's not coming back. As Conservatives, i think the inherent tendency is to constantly "look back" at the "good ole days." Well, here in the post 9/11, technology-driven, globalized society that we are living in, i think we need less longing looks in the rear view mirror...and more attention on the direction we are heading in right now, and into the future. Until the GOP can deliver a platform with a clearer vision for our present and future, it will continue to be a party associated with backwardness, defensiveness, and good ole-fashioned reactionary-ism.... and it will continue to struggle to compete for the attention and votes of our generation....
