The GOP is the Rodney Dangerfield of Politics

Graphic is from the Washington Post

Like Rodney Dangerfield, the GOP hasn't been getting much respect lately. A poll suggests there is no clear leader of the Republican Party. The GOP is not getting any respect either. Its own party members are having self-esteem issues.

Nearly half of Republicans and right-of-center leaning independents surveyed in a USA Today/Gallup Poll failed to come up with a single name when asked who is the party's spokesperson.

Democrats were aware of this dilemma in the GOP and have suggested Rush Limbaugh is the leader. Limbaugh indicated that Michael Steel was not the leader of the GOP, he was the leader of the RNC. Limbaugh later indicated he was giving the 'leadership' of the GOP to Colin Powell. The Republican are still playing pin the tale on the elephant.

Radio host Rush Limbaugh and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich received the most nods in the poll. Each was identified by 10 per cent of Republicans as the leader of their party. Neither man holds an elected office. Former Vice President Dick Cheney was next at nine per cent. All three have been the most vociferous voices in the party since the crushing defeats in 2008.

Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents surveyed, just 17 per cent failed to identify a party spokesperson. Sixty-seven percent of Democrats surveyed named President Obama as main person who speaks for their party.

Republicans are trying to rebuild after suffering demoralizing losses in 2006 and 2008. Democrats control the White House, both US chambers and also hold more gubernatorial seats and 28 of the 50 state houses.

Republican consultant and former executive director of the Republican Governors Association Phil Musser said that a national leader for the GOP likely won't emerge until Republicans cross the bridge of 2010, he said.

This may be too late for a party that is having internecine warfare between the far right and moderate Republicans. Until this rift heals, the GOP will remain a regional party with permanent minority status.

Without the bully pulpit of the White House, it will be challenging for the GOP to rebuild.

Mark Preston, CNN's political editor, said "These numbers are troubling for Republicans, who are engaged in a civil war right over the ideological direction of the party." "When one-third of Republicans hold an unfavorable view of the party, it makes it difficult to establish a united front to promote GOP policies [while] at the same time opposing President Obama's agenda."

Musser agreed that these numbers are troublesome for the GOP. The party must do three things to regroup:

1. Change the tone to be more welcoming and positive, especially toward the Latino community and African American community. Of course, the greeting the GOP gave Sonia Sotomayor didn't help them with Hispanics. There was a concerted effort on the far right side of the party to paint the Supreme Court nominee as racist.

2.Get the younger voters excited about the Republican Party's message. This will be hard because there was a big shift in the the youngest demographics, in particular college students, to the Democratic Party. The only demographic the GOP captured in 2008 were the elderly. John McCain, who was 72, when he ran for president may also affected the voting dynamics. Democrats effectively painted him as being to old for the presidency. McCain was 72 during the 2008 election.

3. Change the way they communicate and invest more in technology. The Republicans laughed at Obama the community organizer, but Obama had learned many lessons in Chicago. He and Howard Dean put together a masterful campaign that Nancy Reagan described as the best she had ever seen.
Campaign workers were armed with cell phones and laptops. The Democratic campaign workers outnumbered Republican by a 3:1 margin. MoveOn.org gave Obama the primary victory by having its members show up for Democratic caucuses.

"We need to be smarter about how we deliver our message and adopt the play book essentially that's has been owned by the left -- about how we build grassroots movements using new and innovative technology standards," Musser said.

A key problem is that most of the GOP message has centered around its one trick pony, tax cuts, and symbolic social issues like gay and lesbian marriage, flag burning and abortion. Obama took the tax cut issue away by promising middle class tax cuts which were superior to the McCain tax cuts according to the Washington Post (see the graphic).

"The bottom line is, most of this is just a hangover from the Bush years. As the saying goes, time heals all wounds," Musser added.

The USA Today/Gallup poll was conducted May 29-31 with more than 1000 adults participants. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.


www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/10/republican.party.poll/index.html

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/06/09/ST2008060900950.html