Republicans last month gathered the press on Capitol Hill to release their counterproposal to the Democrats’ $3.6 trillion budget, in a chance to seize some initiative on economic issues.
As anticipation built, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, stepped up to the podium to make the big announcement. But the document he thrust in front of the cameras was a vague, 19-page outline. The press, feeling duped, went on the attack, and Democrats had a field day ridiculing their opponents.
It was a bad day for Republicans, one of many recently as the Grand Old Party has struggled to find effective responses to Barack Obama.
But while the party has bickered over how to respond to the popular president, Republicans have united through mutual opposition to taxes, deficits and spending — all of which play a big role in the agenda set forward by Obama in his first 100 days.
Obama’s platform “gives us a motivating tool to begin to re-energize the party. … It allows us to sort of regroup,” said former National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Carl Forti.
Congressional Republicans were nearly unanimous in opposing Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package — legislation that prompted thousands of people across the country to show up at “tea parties” in protest of so-called wasteful government spending.
Earlier this month, Republicans in both the House and Senate voted in unison against the $3.6 trillion Democratic budget, framed by Obama as a guideline for education, health care and energy reform.
While they agree on what to oppose, Republicans are still divided on how to get their message across.
“There is clearly a debate raging as to whether they can just oppose the Democratic agenda or offer their own ideas,” said Forti, a GOP consultant. Forti prefers focusing on opposition to Obama’s agenda as a way to reach independent voters without further fracturing the GOP. Independent voters offer the Republican Party its best chance for winning future elections, he said.
Many independents voted for Obama, but Republicans see the group as winnable in the next election, especially if the economy has not improved.
“To win again, they have to attract a majority of those independents back,” said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato.
But Obama has made it harder for Republicans to attract the independent middle, Sabato said, because opposing his agenda is forcing the GOP to the right of America’s mainstream. “They have to get some young people and some racial minorities,” Sabato said. “You can’t do that when you are fulminating about a popular president.”
With an eye on those voters, Republicans in the House said they were pushing ahead with alternative proposals for energy, health care and banking reform.
“There is agreement within the conference that … if [Republicans] are going to oppose legislation and ideas the president has, we are going to have to have to offer our own so the American people can see the difference between the two parties,” said Brad Dayspring, spokesman for House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va.
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Four men have emerged as the leading contenders for the Republican nomination in 2012:
Mitt Romney – Romney lost the Republican primary, but many in the GOP lamented that he was not tapped as John McCain’s running mate, believing his economic expertise would have benefited the ticket more than the addition of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. But Romney did not fade away. In fact, he seems to be gaining strength as a possible contender for 2012. The millionaire businessman has his own political action committee and is raising serious money. Romney’s PAC collected $870,000 this year, and he gave $1,000 apiece to the campaigns of a dozen vulnerable Republican lawmakers. Romney has hired a staff and is paying political consultants.
Mark Sanford – Sanford last month became the first governor to reject money from the $787 billion stimulus package, which earned him the respect of many Republicans but also some serious criticism from both Democrats and Republicans in his state of South Carolina. Sanford was just elected to the high-profile job of chairman of the Republican Governors Association. Earlier this month, Sanford put out an ad in South Carolina defending his decision to reject the stimulus money, and many political observers viewed the message, widely circulated on the Internet, as the first ad of the 2012 campaign and an effort by Sanford to reach out to the conservative base.
Eric Cantor – Republicans in Congress agree they lack a politician like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., to help coalesce the party. But they do have Cantor, a young and energetic representative from Virginia who this year elbowed his way into the House GOP leadership by pushing out Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo. Cantor has been among the most vocal and aggressive Republican opponents of the Democratic agenda and has pushed for the GOP to offer alternatives. Cantor is next in line to become minority leader if Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, steps down or is pushed out.
Bobby Jindal – Republicans say that despite the Louisiana governor’s widely panned response to Barack Obama’s address to Congress earlier this year, Jindal is still considered an up-and-coming Republican leader. Jindal has endeared himself to Republicans by turning down some of the stimulus money designated for his state. The party, perhaps because it lacks a strong bench, seems willing to give Jindal another shot. Jindal has been holding fundraisers around the country, one hosted by Romney, and is writing a book about his life and political views.
