Say Anything Blog

David Harsanyi on Republican electoral woes:

When the National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman, whose job is to be a Pollyanna, tells us that those people with “an R in front of your name, you better run scared,” well, you know trouble is brewing.

Those were the words of Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, who also claims that if the Republicans lose only four Senate seats, a victory is at hand. Talk about your soft bigotry of low expectations.

Is it the prevailing political winds, a spectacularly unpopular president, an economic downturn, war, bungling party leadership or a gaggle of corrupt, pedophilic congressmen?

Yes. But it’s more. Republicans are experiencing an identity crisis. And nowadays, every faction of the coalition has embarked on a mission to rethink, re-jigger and re-brand the party to a miraculous turnaround. Where does the party stand now, however? No one seems to know.

This echoes points I made in a post I wrote back in February about the importance of the conservative brand.

Probably one of the most famous brands in the world is Coca Cola.  Their logos, in that always recognizable shade of red, are everywhere.  The company is perhaps one of the most recognizable in the world, and it consistently dominates the global soft drink market.

How has the company achieved this level of success?  Why do people continue to drink Coca-Cola year after year?  Because they have come to trust the coke brand.  When they crack open one of those red cans, or spin the top off of one of those bottles, they know what they’re getting time and again.  In fact, when Coke tried to re-brand itself with a new look and formula the company’s customers revolted in what was one of the most devastating marketing flops of all time.

Coke tarnished its brand a bit, paid the price for it, and ultimately got back in the publics’ good graces by going back to what worked.  This is what Republicans need to do.

Starting with the rise of Reagan and Goldwater, Republicanism became synonymous with the ideals of limited government.  Low taxes.  Low spending.  Basically a philosophy that sought a social and economic environment where citizens could live as free from government interference as possible without government interference.  Goldwater, Reagan and others defined that brand, and it served them well.  Of late, however, Republicans have allowed that brand to be tarnished.

It used to be that when voters considered a Republican they generally knew what they were getting.  Tax cuts.  Spending cuts.  Someone who would help keep the government from encroaching on their freedoms.  These days when voters consider Republicans they aren’t so sure of what they’re going to get.

And that, my friends, is the problem in a nutshell.

To be blunt: Americans aren’t excited about Republicans because the GOP, as a party, shouldn’t really be saying with a straight face that it stands for what it claims it stands for.