Steve Schmidt, John McCain’s campaign manager, offers some harsh truths for the Republican party.
“If you put public policy issues to a religious test, you risk becoming a religious party,” Schmidt declared. “And in a free country, a political party cannot be viable in the long term if it is seen as a sectarian party.”…….
Schmidt warned, particularly, that losses among Hispanic voters threatened to “cost the Republicans the entire southwest,” a development that would make winning 270 electoral votes a near impossibility. “Had Sen. McCain not been the nominee in 2008,” he said, “I am convinced we would have lost the state of Arizona.”
Perhaps the last sentence struck me the most. Arizona in play?
Schmidt’s right to be concerned. While any Democrat would be as foolish as Rove to think that the current direction will lead to a permanent majority, it’s not unreasonable to think Democrats could build up a soft advantage that in even conditions ( if “even” electoral conditions exist) could see them edge out Republicans.
Schmidt is of course right, the Republican party has a real problem. Its faux grass-roots are an embarrassing imitation of Obama’s campaign, given gloss over by Fox News and highlight their very weakness, that they are a party of aging white people, without an obvious youth movement to give them new dynamism. Furthermore, if Obama passes immigration in his first term, he could be locking up a large number of Hispanic voters for a generation, particularly if Republicans are seen on balance to oppose the measure.
As has been implied in the past, Republicans might try a David Cameron makeover, but perhaps that ignores the gravity of their current predicament. I suspect they might need to embrace more of the 1980s Labour party’s bloodbath, as Schmidt seems to think, a “Lord of the Flies” event that sees leadership take a backseat as grass roots re-align to new electoral issues. That may seem difficult to stomach in the short term, and naturally the more senior leadership might be particularly reluctant, but the Darwinian element is probably what they need.
March 27th, 2011 at 17:19
Air Jordan 1 (I) Retro Alpha – University Blue White – Black Air Jordan 3 (III) Retro 1994 – White Cement Grey Air Jordan Alpha 1 (I) – Black Varsity Red – White Air Jordan 3 (III) Retro+ – White Cement Grey – Fire Red Air Jordan 4 (IV) Retro – White Chrome – Classic Green