BARONE WARNS THE GOP – AT 10:06 A.M. ET:  As readers of this site know, we think Michael Barone is one of the most astute students of American politics writing today.  He also tilts right.  So when he issues a caution to the Republican Party, it should be taken seriously.   He has done that, echoing a theme we have discussed here as well:

The president's policies are in shambles. Things are not working out the way he and his advisers expected. His journalist cheering section has been voicing doubts and dismay.

But it's not entirely clear where Republicans want to go either, or whether they have candidates with the potential to take them there.

Yes, they have some quick answers. Repeal Obamacare? By all means. Approve a tax increase in return for genuine large spending cuts? All eight candidates at the Washington Examiner-Fox News debate Friday night dutifully raised their hands to say no.

Beyond that, not so much clear direction.

Barone is correct.  The Republican Party remains unpopular, as poll after poll shows.  But its presidential candidates have failed to put forward a vision of America and the policies that will accomplish that vision.

...it's possible that the Republican nominee, if he or she avoids stumbles and conditions remain as they are, can win just by running against the failed policies of the Obama Democrats. But that's not necessarily enough to successfully govern.

Republicans can successfully argue that Democratic promises of absolute security cannot be kept. Federal entitlements are, to paraphrase Margaret Thatcher, running out of other people's money.

The problem for Republicans is that it's impossible to foresee exactly how free market policies will improve people's lives. Back when Ronald Reagan was running during a similar Democratic breakdown in 1980, no one foresaw the wonders of the Internet...

...Republicans are winning the argument over the Obama policies. But they aren't yet making the strongest case for their own.

COMMENT:  I hope Barone is taken seriously on this.  "No new taxes" is a slogan, not an economic program.  "Jobs" is a word, not a proposal.  I could not honestly say, from the Republican debates so far, exactly where the GOP would lead this country. 

While the mainstream media will go easy on Obama, it will hammer the Republicans with demands for details.  The GOP must at least have the basics of a program in place, one incorporated into the Republican platform next year. 

One of the great things about Reagan is that he told us what he was going to do, and then, once elected, he did it.  Even those who disagreed with him admired the fact that he stood for a program, and enacted it.  Right now the Republican presidential candidates have a kind of hollowness about them.  Too many soundbites chasing too few ideas.  Work needs to be done.

August 15, 2011