Well, now we know where all those “Republicans are losing the demographics” stories are originating. Here’s David Axelrod speaking on a conference call with the press (via Playbook):
“I think the Republican Party has some soul searching to do after this election, and all you have to do is look at the nature of our coalition, and the President got 56 percent of the vote among voters who describe themselves as moderates, and they were the largest segment of the electorate. The President got 70 percent of the vote among Latinos. He got 55 percent of the vote among women. And that reflects both his record and also the approach of the Republican Party, which has been to paint itself way out of the mainstream. …
“If I were one of those billionaires who were funding Crossroads and those other organizations, I’d be wanting to talk to someone and asking where my refund [is], because they didn’t get much for their money. … [I]n the final week, over $100 million was spent against us in these battleground states. How much influence did that actually have? … [T]he heartening news is that you can’t buy the White House. … I would think that there’ll be reluctance in the future when Mr. Rove and others come knocking on the door because of what happened on Tuesday.”
Right, Mitt Romney, the moderate Massachusetts governor who instituted the state-level model for Obamacare and almost lost the nomination because he was seen as too liberal has “painted the GOP out of the mainstream.” Just like the pro-amnesty John McCain was accused of “marginalizing” the GOP into the regional white southern party in 2008.
There is no crisis for the Republican Party, at least not the type Axelrod talks about. Most of the swing states have Republican governors: Ohio, Virginia, Wisconsin, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania. The coalition Axelrod boasts about was cobbled together through a mix of mudslinging, fearmongering, cynical election-year handouts, and a powerful get-out-the-vote operation that dragged every last Democrat to the polls. Other than the last part, that’s nothing to be proud of.
Charles Krauthammer pushed back on the demographic doomsayer nonsense this morning:
Ignore the trimmers. There’s no need for radical change. The other party thinks it owns the demographic future — counter that in one stroke by fixing the Latino problem. Do not, however, abandon the party’s philosophical anchor. In a world where European social democracy is imploding before our eyes, the party of smaller, more modernized government owns the ideological future. …
The answer to Romney’s failure is not retreat, not aping the Democrats’ patchwork pandering. It is to make the case for restrained, rationalized and reformed government in stark contradistinction to Obama’s increasingly unsustainable big-spending, big-government paternalism.
Republicans: No whimpering. No whining. No reinvention when none is needed. Do conservatism but do it better. There’s a whole generation of leaders ready to do just that.
Krauthammer calls Romney a transitional figure, which is a great point. The party that was left rudderless after John McCain’s defeat in 2008 has come to embrace an optimistic and reformist vision for conservatism. The younger bench of Republicans who embody that vision will be ready to run in 2016. Romney, as a technocratic political moderate, was not the right spokesperson for such an ideological message. But by choosing Paul Ryan as his running mate, Romney ensured that Ryan’s brand of reform conservatism would be the party’s future. What is the Democratic Party’s message, other than Barack Obama?
[More from Caroline Glick's column:] In retrospect it is possible that the race was over before it began. A strong case can be made that Obama secured his reelection in 2009 when he bailed out the US auto industry and so temporarily stanched the hemorrhage of jobs in Ohio and Michigan. And maybe, with the youth of the 1960s now the Medicare recipients of the 2010s and 20s, there are simply too many Americans dependent on government handouts to care about what happens in the future. n* * * n nBut all the dependency champions who celebrated on Tuesday night cannot stop the coming storm. The greatest advantage Obama had going into the election was not demography but the fact that the full consequences of his statist economic policies and his pro-jihadist foreign policy have not yet been felt. n nNationalized healthcare will only be fully implemented in 2014. Americans will only begin watching old men and women die because the federal government denied them lifesaving, but expensive treatments a year from now. They will only lose their doctors due to dwindling Medicare reimbursements in a year. [More]
[More from Ms. Glick's column] n nCollege students who got out the vote for Obama will only find themselves doomed to low-paying jobs and a life of indebtedness as they fail year in and year out to pay off their college loans, in a year or two. And by the time they realize what it means to be saddled with a national debt of $16 trillion, they will be locked into a government-controlled economy that requires them to keep their silence or lose their livelihoods. n nThen there are the consequences of Obama's foreign policies. * * * n nConservatives need to prepare the ground for their return to power. They need to make the arguments for ending the welfare state. They need to make the arguments for destroying the ascendant — politically savvy — forces of jihad at home and abroad. They need to argue against defense cuts even as the Obama-appointed Joint Chiefs of Staff abandon strategic reason for personal promotions. [More]
[More from Ms. Glick] And they need to write the books, produce the movies, found the television stations, and prepare the school curricula that will enable a future resurrection of the American dream. * * * n nNo one said any of this will be easy. But difficult is not the same as impossible. Within a year, the consequences of Obama's failed domestic and foreign policies will make him weaker rather than stronger than he was in his first term. He will be hard pressed to pressure Israel when the US loses its leadership role in the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated Middle East. And Israel's independence of action will consequently grow. n nOur side suffered a massive loss on Tuesday. n nBut as long as we keep our minds and hearts focused on the fundamental goodness and truth that guide our path, we will not be defeated. We will endure, persevere and in due course, we will be vindicated.
Caroline Glick- brilliant, as always!_With an asssist by Charles Krauthmmer- the pre-eminent conservative commentator of our times and lastly, kudos to Alana for writing a great piece of commentary._Thanks- ahad…..for your contribution!
Didn't Obama once say American Jews have to do a little soul searching, too? n nSo glad the new admin is so concerned for our souls . . . .
Not helping the GOP with Fox saying "too late, now more takers than makers". n nAfter seeing how many Dem Senators won with more votes than Obama, it is very clear that we had a low enthusiasm choices for president, and abortion really needs to stop being the issue that divides us. n nAll Obama did was rely on suckering the ten million new age-eligible voters. Why do you think all he ever talked about was college loans? n nThe good news is that Axelrod is expected to disappear from the WH staff. n nBut America is still stuck with the clown show that is the nomination process, and one party in the tank on identity politics; the other party in the tank over vaginal ultrasounds. n nThe GOP is still seen as the same GOP that opposed FDR on Social Security, because of Bush43s ill-fated use of his political capital. n n
The democrats will always use FDR as a stick to beat the republicans. We should use reagan to beat the democrats. It is more than just a message-it is the way to explain it. If Romney can be faulted personally, it is that he never made a vigorous defense of the capitaist system and the prosperity it brings- versus the quasi socialism of the democrats. it was, as if he was ashame of his own success- he could have brandished all the sucesses of Bain- and although they would have demonized him anyway- he lost anyway!
"He ran on irrelevancies like abortion…." n nOy.
"Mitt Romney, the moderate Massachusetts governor….." n nBut Mitt said he governed as a "severe conservative" — or are you calling him a liar?
A gracious winner, isn’t he? Is this a foreshadowing of the animosity that Obama will exhibit towards Israel.
All week the Obama balloonheads have ignored anything Obama can or should do. They've spent all week telling us that the GOP's problem is that it isn't the DNC.
Screw Axelrod