I am not moving to France…
Election Day has come and gone and my Political Party’s nominee for President has lost. I am disappointed but not disheartened. I am looking forward to the debate within the Republican Party to find our true core again.
A couple of things first, congratulations to President-elect Obama and his supporters. In 2000 and 2004 I was dismayed by the lack of respect and abundance of contempt that President Bush (and those of us that supported him) received from those that lost. Regardless of the deep and substantive differences I have with President-elect Obama it would be a mistake to not recognize how historic his election is. He is the first African-American President and represents the completion of another chapter in America’s troubled history on racial equality. His campaign shattered traditional models of volunteer mobilization, fundraising and technology use. All of which are good things for American democracy. I am sure that in the coming months I will have strong words for him in difference of policy but there will be plenty of time for that.
(More after the leap)
Next, leave Senator McCain alone. Enough of the arm chair quarterbacks and back seat drivers. In most polling I saw, we could not even get 30% of Americans to admit they were Republicans so it is no surprise that we could not get a majority of them to vote that way.
Time and time again I hear voters tell campaigns to “not tell them why the other guy is wrong, tell us what your guy will do!” Maybe we as Republicans should consider that question a bit before we start getting a worked up and wild-eyed. In 1996 we screamed and yelled about how unethical and corrupt President Clinton was. You can ask President Dole how well that worked.
Who are we and why should voters give us a chance again?
Are we fiscal conservatives or fans of big government solutions? Are we social conservatives, moderates or something in-between? Do we believe in free market solutions or tariff managed trade? Do we believe in being “safe” all the time or are we ok with balance of less security for more liberty? Do we believe in “exporting” the gift of democracy or letting others figure it out for themselves? Do we think that there is still some room in our country for people who were not born here but believe in the idea of America as much as we do? Are we helping the “poor” by not making them pay taxes?
I used to think I could articulate the “Republican” position on these pretty well but lately I am not so sure.
Even before McCain conceded I had emails and text messages from friends and journalists asking if Governor Palin would be our standard bearer for 2012. Whoa, let’s hold our horses a bit. We need to know where we are going before we pick a leader. The good news is we have some time on our hands to figure that out now that Democrats control both houses of Congress and the White House.
I have been proud to be a Republican in the past and am sure I will be in the future. Our party has a great history of shaping our nation’s policy and providing the great leaders to do it.
Chris Faulkner
I am ready to fight for what I believe in, are you?
November 6th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
I don’t have a beef with McCain, but his campaign staff sucked.
November 7th, 2008 at 8:57 am
Face it: The only thing that didn’t suck about McCain’s campaign, including the candidate, was his VP choice. She, at least, was a conservative.
I can’t congratulate Obama. Even with all the dumb mistakes he made, he still coasted to victory because the other side — with one notable exception named Sarah Palin — never made up its mind to fight. For Obama, that made it like shooting fish in a barrel.
But this is what happens when the other party determines who your candidate will be. We had better candidates back in the smoke-filled room days. Primaries are too easy to manipulate — Operation Chaos proved that. So why not get rid of them and elect delegates to the convention, instead?
November 7th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Chris, part of the reason that we had an identity problem WAS McCain. I’m not talking about his campaign, but the fact that he was part of what defined Republicans over the last few years. He was “reaching across the isle” even when the Republicans were in the majority and we should have been pushing our agenda. He pushed legislation that ended up destroying himself (McCain Feingold)
McCain represents a lot of what is wrong with the Republican Party. There were a couple of exceptions: he was great on earmarks (a minor issue, really) and he stood firm on ethics. He is a good man, but was an awful standard bearer.
I have one other exception with your post. You said: The good news is we have some time on our hands to figure that out now that Democrats control both houses of Congress and the White House. Actually we have about 2 weeks. That is when the Congressional Republican leadership is chosen. That is when the direction of the Party is determined. Pence as Conference Chair would be a good indication. Flake replacing Boehner would be good as well.
Staying with the same people in our leadership would be an indication that we, once again, did not learn the lesson of an election. We all need to be quite vocal with the Republicans that we need Conservative leaders.
November 7th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Fair points Joel but with all do respect to Congressman Pence and others on the Hill I am not going to hold my breath for them to lead us out of the wilderness. I think we need to look to Governors for the path back.
November 7th, 2008 at 9:33 am
Well, there must be leadership in Congress. The Governors are not the ones that will be determining the message for the next two years. It just doesn’t happen. And the message for the next two years is what will determine the results of the 2010 elections–which are now “the most important elections in our lifetime.”
You are thinking of Presidential politics, but I contend that the ground game–which takes place most closely in the elections for Representatives–is what will determine the direction of the Republican Party.
November 7th, 2008 at 9:36 am
What a great time to start talking about ideas. There are some big and little things to do but not just with a target or some specific office. Management, ground game, ideas, everything should be in play. On a smaller scale of building towards future in Indiana we have to start in Marion County. The 60-40 voter spread was horrible, we are Lake County now but bigger. The morale of the party is at all time low. The county chair is the worst in 30 years (that is as far back as I know). I worked the polls, I talked to others, there will be even less returning in future because of the way they were treated. Again, that is a start but a big one given the numbers involved.