Rebuilding Year Not Going Well for Republicans

As a Notre Dame football fan who has had to suffer through two very bad football seasons during my time here, I'm familiar with the concept of a rebuilding year.

The Republican Party is currently undergoing a rebuilding year, but nearly halfway through 2009, I've seen more deconstructing than constructing.

In late April, a Washington Post/ABC poll showed only 21 percent of those surveyed identified themselves as Republicans, down from 25 percent in a late March poll, and at the lowest figure in this poll since the fall of 1983. In the same poll, 35 percent self-identified as Democrats and 38 percent called themselves Independents.

Republicans know they have to find a way to attract voters back to the party and return to a position of prominence in Washington. But their approach seems to be more focused on infighting and publicly debating what it means to be a Republican or a conservative, than presenting a bold alternative to President Obama and the Democrats.

Former Arkansas governor and 2008 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee posted a column on Fox News' Web site Monday criticizing a group of fellow Republicans who have embarked on a "listening tour" to make the Republican party attractive to voters again.

Earlier this month, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor and former Republican governors Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney spoke to about 100 attendees at a pizzeria in the Washington suburb of Arlington, Va. According to a Politico report, the discussion at the forum was that the Republican Party's struggles are based in nostalgia for a more successful past and the inability to propose a policy agenda for the 21st century. The GOP leaders argued that the party needed to modernize its ideas and agenda.

Huckabee, who in his column references and posts a link to the Amazon listing for his book in a blatant attempt at self-promotion, had a muddled argument for why Republicans shouldn't be doing an "announced listening tour," but instead should pay attention to the values of voters in the party.

"If the party elite want to abandon principled leadership to protect life, support traditional marriage while going along with deficit exploding spending, interference and micro-managing of private business and failing to police corruption and govern competently, then hearing aids or a panel of experts won't help," he wrote.

More infighting occurred between Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Steele, while guest-hosting for Bill Bennett's radio show Friday, said the conservative base rejected Romney in 2008 because of uncertainty about his abortion stance, his Mormonism and his economic policies.

First of all, what was Steele doing guest-hosting a radio show? This man makes gaffes more often than Joe Biden. He needs to be restricting himself to scripted events.

A spokesman for Romney, who seems to be a likely frontrunner for the GOP nomination in 2012, responded that Romney did in fact have great support from the conservative base when he was running.

Romney himself took a hit at fellow Republican and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, jokingly questioning earlier this month whether Palin was on Time's list of most influential people or most beautiful people.

Op-ed columnist Bill Kristol wrote in The Washington Post Tuesday that Republicans need to "get back in the game" so they can compete in 2012.

A rebuilding year is about finding out where the problem is, figuring out how to fix it and then fixing it. Midway through the year, the Republican leadership hasn't been able to tackle step one.