Crisis represents danger and opportunity.
The popularity of the Republican Party is lower than in years. We're saddled with an unpopular President and a sagging economy.
We ought to lose several seats in the House and Senate and witness Hillary or Barack swearing in as President.
However I see room for optimism.
2006 showed how fragile our coalition was. We depended on independent voters who trusted us on security and little else. When our security credentials we're tarnished by the mismanagement of Iraq we saw a collapse of our support.
This suggests that we need a new domestic agenda
Now I know that seems scary. Are we going to move left on economics? Are we going to move left on social issues?
We need to focus on specific policies that address American concerns. In 1980 and 1994 that didn't involve moving left or right. It required thinking and offering real alternatives to Democratic ideas.
Today we see several gut level concerns:
1) The rising price of energy.
2) The limited availability and rising price of healthcare.
3) Economic insecurity
a) We're on the losing end of competition from China. We need a broad reform of corporate taxes and regulation to compete.
b) The rising cost of education is strapping parent's incomes and leaving the young in deep debts. For the first time a majority of parents believe their children will do worse than them economically.
We need to address these issues. Bush instituted lower taxes and these issues have only gotten worse. We need to think outside the box as Newt Gingrich did in 1993-1994.
I'm pleased by former Speaker Gingrich's attempts to create new Republican ideas to address the issues Americans care about. We can not expect Americans to vote for us because Democratic ideas are faulty. We have to offer alternative solutions to the problems that are frightening Americans.
I've noticed a new attitude in Congress that suggests Speaker Boehner may be open to innovative solutions. He has certainly woke up to the hard medicine Republicans will need to get over ethics problems and ear marks. I hope that our Presidential nominee addresses American's concerns with a plan to solve them.
If we put forward a plan that offers better solutions than the Democrats we may win. If we stick to the 2004 and 2006 playbook we will have given up our chance to lead.