Once the August craziness of amending the 14th amendment and talk of mass deportations fade away, the GOP will still be in search of salient national issues to appeal to non-traditional Republicans. Foreign policy provides one such opportunity.
The facts are that Republicans have struggled nationally since the Evil Empire went away. From the 1960s when most national Democrats abandoned the fight against international Communism over Vietnam (1968), until the eve of the fall of the Berlin Wall (1988), Republicans won five of six national elections, many by large margins. Beginning in 1992 however, Republicans won only twice, and only once with a popular majority.
In the past twenty years, the country has become more socially libertarian and foreign policy has faded from view. As a consequence, Republicans have fought campaigns on economic grounds with a focus on traditional themes of limited government, less taxes and more economic opportunity for all. When matched against Democrat attacks on the 1 percent and promises of free health care, college educations and whatever else, the GOP small government message can be a hard sell. Fortunately the miserable growth record of the Obama years is becoming clear and that more than anything else explains the high hopes Republicans have this time around.
Yet there could be more opportunity for Republicans this year and beyond. President Obama’s feeble efforts to deal with America’s adversaries present an opportunity for the GOP to compete for votes of Americans deeply concerned about our diminishing stature in the world and about our vulnerability to enemies whose ultimate objective remains the destruction of the Great Satan.
Obama’s Democrats share a common mindset with Democrats of the Vietnam era who abandoned the banner of anti-Communism. Both believe America was arrogant in deploying its power and had too often supported authoritarian regimes. Both believe that America had too much influence in the world and often made the world more, not less dangerous. Both believe that more aggressive outreach to our adversaries could bring accommodation without the need to resort to force. Both see at least some moral equivalence between American values and perceptions and those of its adversaries.
Most important, both deny American Exceptionalism, the idea that America is a special and indispensable country essential to bringing peace and stability to an increasingly dangerous world.
This worldview is on display with the president’s apologies to numerous countries for past American actions, his indecisive efforts to restrain a newly aggressive Russia, his feeble attempts to deal with the chaos in the Middle East, and especially his deeply flawed agreement to allow Iran to retain key elements of its nuclear weapons program. Some of these failures can be traced to ineptitude, but also present is the administration’s view that past American use of its military power has been intemperate and imperialistic.
In an era long past, it was famously said that “Politics stops at the water’s edge.” Yet the Iran agreement will be rejected on a bipartisan basis by Congress but will survive only because a minority of leftist Democrats will sustain a presidential veto. This is a terrible way to make major foreign policy decisions, but it presents Republicans with the opportunity to appeal to voters who are not swayed by limited government rhetoric but deeply concerned about our vulnerabilities in a dangerous world.
Yes the party still suffers from the hangover of the Iraq invasion, which turned America decidedly inward. But with the multiple threats we face, especially a nuclear armed Iran, the is country more willing to counter international aggression. Public opinion polls seem to agree. Every Senate Democrat who votes in favor of the Iran Agreement is in jeopardy the minute Iran begins to cheat on its obligations.
Like the latter stages of the Cold War, Republicans who understand America’s need to aggressively confront our adversaries can appeal to Democrats and Independents concerned about national security and personal safety, voters who value our ties with long term American allies such as Israel, and many of all faiths who are concerned about religious freedom which is under attack around the world.
Republicans desperately need to repair the economic and international chaos of the last six years, but must resist the temptation to embrace a message of anger and resentment without purpose. A new Reagan style coalition of economic libertarians, social conservatives and foreign policy realists who appreciate America’s special world responsibilities represents the party’s best chance to reestablish a durable national governing majority.
Former GOPAC Chairman Frank Donatelli was most recently asked by Senator John McCain to serve as the Deputy Chairman of the Republican National Committee during the 2008 presidential elections. His previous appointments have included serving as an Assistant to President Reagan for Political an Intergovernmental Affairs and as Deputy Assistant to the President for Public Liaison at the White House. Mr. Donatelli served on White House Chief of Staff James Baker’s team that negotiated the 1984 presidential debates, a role he reprised as a Senior Advisor to Bob Dole in 1996. He was also a Regional Political Director for Ronald Reagan and was active in the presidential campaigns of George H.W. Bush.