-
Recent Posts
- Coming: Global Political Recalibration
- Clark Judge: FDR, Reagan, and European Nationalism | NatCon Rome 2020
- Lady Gaga Tells All
- Trial Lawyers Use COVID-19 to Prey on America’s Corporations | Real Clear Policy | 12.1.20
- Trump’s Nomination of ACB Honors Constitutional Norms; Dems Dishonor Them | American Greatness | 9.27.20
Categories
- Book Reviews (12)
- Communication Strategy (23)
- Constitution and Law (14)
- Economic Policy: General (33)
- Economic Policy: Health Care (30)
- Economic Policy: The Great Financial Crisis (15)
- Economic Policy: US Debt Crisis (32)
- Education Policy (1)
- Global Issues (57)
- Political Commentary: Campaign 2008 (18)
- Political Commentary: Campaign 2012 (43)
- Political Commentary: Campaign 2020 (4)
- Political Commentary: General (122)
- Politics & Policy (6)
- Ronald Reagan and the Reagan Administration (11)
- Speeches/Lectures (9)
- Uncategorized (6)
Archives
- March 2023
- July 2022
- April 2022
- December 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- November 2019
- December 2018
- September 2017
- April 2017
- January 2017
- October 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- June 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- January 2008
- June 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- June 2006
- October 2005
- August 2005
- March 2005
- November 2004
- August 2004
- June 2004
- December 2003
- October 2003
- August 2003
- April 2003
- July 2002
- December 2001
- November 2001
- May 2001
- December 2000
- June 2000
- January 1995
- August 1994
- August 1992
- June 1991
- July 1990
- September 1989
- July 1989
- March 1989
Tags
2012 2012 election Benghazi campaign constitution debt debt crisis Democrats economy election 2012 Energy Financial Times fiscal cliff foreign policy Gingrich Global Warming GOP Hoover Digest hughhewitt HughHewitt.com Immigration IRS National Review New York Post New York Times Obama Obamacare Republicans Ricochet Ricochet.com Romney Russia Scandal Senate SOTU speech Supreme Court Syria Tea Party Trump U.S. News Ukraine Wall Street Journal war Washington Times
Countering the Democratic Midterm Push | The Wall Street Journal | 09.07.14
With an unpopular president in office and many congressional seats up for grabs, the Democratic high command is fundraising with a vengeance, hoping to swamp the 2014 midterms with dollars and attack ads to retain control of the Senate. So what should Republicans do? Here are some suggestions.
• Remember why the GOP lost Congress in 2006. In the summer of 2005, a Republican pollster told me of detecting disillusionment among a significant segment of George W. Bush voters. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continued, but by June her polls showed that spending and debt were a high priority for these voters. Many had embraced Republicans as the party of reform. But bridges to nowhere, earmarks, rising debt and inaction on unfunded entitlement liabilities took their toll. By 2006, reminding voters of Bill Clinton’s second-term surpluses, Democrats presented themselves as the real reformers and won.
• Remember why the GOP won back the House in 2010. In 2008, Barack Obama‘s “Hope and Change” campaign continued the Democrats’ reform theme. Disaffected Bush voters still wanted to teach Republicans a lesson. What they got were more bailouts, record spending bills, record deficits and ObamaCare. Shocked, in 2010 they returned the House to the GOP—but thanks in part to inept candidates, not to the Senate.
• Learn from Mitt Romney . Government reform was again a high priority in 2012. But with tea party firebrands on the rise, the Romney-Ryan campaign’s “Believe in America” message never really spoke to reform-minded voters. In all, seven million potential Republican voters stayed home or declined to cast a presidential ballot. The lesson? Promising “tax reform” or “immigration reform” without clearly articulating specific proposals is a losing strategy.
• Don’t get rattled when Democrats talk about a GOP war on women and minorities.Throw the charge back at them. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics and census data, the number of women and minorities in the workforce today has barely budged from six years ago, and both groups have seen their incomes drop. The Democrats’ tax-and-spend-and-regulate regime has failed women and minorities. Who is at war with whom?
• What about charges of a GOP war on the middle class? Throw that back at them, too. Democrats’ Exhibit A will be the work of Thomas Piketty. The celebrity French economist has painted a picture of stagnating middle-class wages and rising income inequality in the U.S. from 1979 to 2007.
But in 2012 a team of economists led by Cornell’s Richard Burkhauser revealed the flaws in Mr. Piketty’s methods and conclusions. While Mr. Piketty relied on pretax data, Mr. Burkhauser’s team used after-tax income, noncash benefits and other factors to get a better picture of U.S. incomes. They concluded that median American income had increased 37% from just before Ronald Reagan’s presidency (1979) and to the year before the end of George W. Bush’s (2007) and that income inequality had held steady from the early ’90s. Meanwhile, income inequality has soared in the Obama years thanks to dismal economic growth rates and persistent unemployment.
• Bring up the Democrats’ war on the young. Administration-initiated taxes, regulations and restrictions on credit have dramatically slowed new business creation and growth, the source of most new jobs. The result is that unemployment and underemployment now tops 25% among recent college graduates and 68% for young high-school graduates.
• Be the party of national security.Ask this variation on a familiar question: “Are we safer now than we were six years ago?” Voters are alarmed about the rise of Islamic State terrorists in Iraq and Syria, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China’s challenges and a president who doesn’t seem to have a strategy for dealing with any of it. The question also applies to the administration’s failure to secure our borders, which are a gateway for illegal immigrants and potential terrorists.
• Don’t forget ObamaCare. Calls for “repeal and replace” are fine. But replace with what? First, give individuals and companies the same insurance-purchase tax break so individuals can buy policies without employers as middlemen. Second, remove interstate barriers to buying and selling insurance to increase competition. Third, expand Health Savings Accounts to reduce the role of insurance middlemen. And fourth, keep a safety net for the very poor.
Voters who broke from the GOP in 2006 and 2008 and stayed home in 2012 want candidates who, when they criticize, have an alternative policy. Knowing where you want to take the country and having ideas for getting there are the keys to winning in 2014.
Mr. Judge is managing director of the White House Writers Group Inc. and chairman of the Pacific Research Institute.