For Republicans, a Long Winter Gets Longer
By Dan Balz
Thursday, June 25, 2009
snip//
For Republicans, the long winter continues. "It's bad news," said Peter Wehner, a former Bush White House adviser, of the back-to-back confessions by Sanford and Ensign. "It reflects on them individually, but it reflects on the party. The Democrats are vulnerable on a number of areas, including scandals. They've had their own on a range of issues. But if you accept as I do that the Republican brand is hurt, this does more damage to it."
John Weaver, a longtime GOP strategist, said: "The voters have chosen new management {in the White House} for a reason, and this just reinforces it. It just makes the hill a little steeper for us." Looking toward 2012, Weaver joked, "At this rate, if you're a junior Jaycees president in Memphis, you could be in line for the nomination."
Republicans in Congress have been trying to develop a more effective response to President Obama and the Democrats, and there is a sense among some GOP lawmakers and strategists that they have slowly begun to identify the president's vulnerabilities. But polls show that Republicans have made little progress since the election. The latest Washington Post-ABC News survey found Republicans lower in favorability than at any point since the early 1990s. Obama enjoys huge advantages in public trust.
Some political strategists question how Republicans can get traction when two pillars of their message -- family values and fiscal rectitude -- have been undermined by errant politicians' transgressions, and by the collective failure of GOP leaders to control spending when they held the White House and Congress."If Republicans talk about family values, people will roll their eyes," said Matthew Dowd, a onetime adviser to President George W. Bush who later broke with the president. Dowd said Obama's big budget deficits leave him and Democrats vulnerable on that issue, but he added, "It's hard to say {voters are} going to trust Republicans on it."
Beyond issues is the question of party leadership. Some of the most visible Republicans are unpopular outside the party. More discouraging may be that those who are not so well known are making poor first impressions. "I suppose the problem is we have a lot of old familiar faces that people see with mixed views, and they don't get to know newer leaders except in an unfortunate light," said Vin Weber, a former congressman from Minnesota.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/24/AR2009062403545.html?hpid=topnews
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