The Voice of Reason Retires

           If you don’t know who Senator Olympia Snowe is, you should read about her. If you want to know what a serious legislator looks like, you should study her career. She has been a public servant for over 30 years. She represented Maine’s second district in the U.S House of Representatives from 1975-1995, and was elected Senator in 1995. Throughout her career, she has developed a reputation of being one of the leading moderates in Congress. In 1995, she helped establish the bipartisan group of senators called the Gang of 14 to preserve the right to filibuster judicial nominations even though Democrats were in the minority. She’s a trailblazer in many ways.  At age 26, she became the youngest Republican woman and first Greek-American ever elected to Congress. In 2001, she became the first Republican woman to secure a full-term seat on the Senate Finance Committee.

Amidst the deeply polarizing environment in Washington, Senator Snowe is the epitome of grace and civility. She doesn’t engage in all the name calling, finger-pointing and partisan bickering that goes on in Congress. She’s not a politician with an insatiable desire to be in the spotlight or go on Cable TV talk shows to score cheap political points against her opponents. She’s a serious legislator that is more concerned about solving problems for the people of Maine and the entire country.  An independent thinker that is willing to work with Democrats because she recognizes that the Republican Party doesn’t have a monopoly on good ideas or good policy.

Her personal story is very inspiring. She has suffered crushing setbacks and hardship in her life. Her mother died of breast cancer when she was only eight years old, then her father passed away just a year later. Her first husband was killed in a car accident and she lost her step-son when he was only 20 years old. To go through those difficult challenges and still possess the fighting spirit and strong dedication to public service is remarkable. It is a testament to her character. The Congress just lost a leader and role model to men and women alike. The U.S Senate and the citizens of Maine will miss her voice, passion, and tenacity. So will I.

What Happened to the Party of Teddy Roosevelt?

Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower will probably be deeply troubled and disappointed with the current state of the Republican Party. The party that once advocated for a limited but active and effective government has suddenly become the party that disdains government. The party that once believed that government has a responsibility to enforce reasonable regulations to guard against corporate greed and corruption that hurt Main Street has relegated itself to being the party of blanket deregulation. This is not what the GOP used to be. Republicans like President Teddy Roosevelt believed that with targeted policies, government can help level the playing field for all Americans. That it can provide an environment that fosters fair market competition and gives people the tools to make decisions for themselves.

The Republican Party of today has become more rigid and narrow-minded as evidenced by the current group of presidential candidates. They appear to be fighting to be the most anti-government, anti-Obama candidate. The party seems to value ideological purity over sound pragmatism. It has confined itself to catchy phrases (cut spending, cap spending, cut taxes, repeal Obamacare) and failed to offer a compelling conservative vision for the country. In an attempt to keep the base happy, it has ignored the broader electorate and failed to adjust to the changing demographics of the country. If the Republican Party wants to be a strong national political party once again, it has to become more inclusive.  

First, it must significantly tone down some of its rhetoric. The reasonable voices in the Party need to speak out against members like Newt Gingrich that once said “What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]?” That is the most accurate, predictive model for his behavior.” It’s hard to even conceive that that same person was once leading in the polls for the Republican presidential nomination. A party that wants to be a strong national party cannot engage in or tolerate that kind of provocative rhetoric. President Barack Obama was born in the United States. He’s an earnest public servant, and a patriotic American that deeply loves his country. He’s a good husband, a devoted father and a role model to many Americans. He has been working extremely hard to make things better for the American people.  If you don’t believe me, look at his hair compared to when he was sworn in.

Second, the party needs to stop using immigration as a wedge issue. Its frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president (Gov. Romney) cannot be the champion of an immigration policy of “self-deportation.” It makes no sense. Immigrants not only keep our economy vibrant but they also enrich our culture and diversity. Without immigrants, America will be like Europe with an aging population and fewer young people to keep the country strong. Republicans like former Gov. Jeb Bush understand this and has laid out four ways Republicans can win Hispanics back. America will become a minority nation in the next generation, and we need to ensure that our minorities have access to the education they need to make ends meet for their families, thrive in society, and compete in a global economy. The Republican Party has to speak to that.

Just as important, the party shouldn't reject candidates simply because they advocate for reasonable regulations and believe in climate change or some abortion exceptions.  The truth is that the current Republican electorate is too volatile to accept such positions. This leads me to believe that if President Obama wins reelection, 2016 could shape up to be a year of revival for the GOP. The Tea Party stronghold should have weakened by then, and that will hopefully give way to presidential candidates like Gov. Jeb Bush, Gov. Mitch Daniels, Gov. Jon Huntsman, and Gov. Chris Christie. A group of Republicans that can speak not just to the base, but to the entire country. Republicans that are ideologically conservative but moderate in tone and practical in governance. They can and should chart a new course for the Republican Party of the future.

The Deficient Budget

If you are looking for a serious long-term plan that comprehensively addresses America’s fiscal crisis, you probably didn’t find it in President Barack Obama’s 2013 budget.  The president unveiled a $3.8 trillion budget that calls for $4 trillion in savings over the next decade. It includes new government spending and tax increases on the wealthy. Nearly half of the proposal comprises tax increases of approximately $1.5 trillion by ending the Bush tax cuts, and enacting the “buffett rule” requiring families earning over $1 million to pay a 30% tax rate. But the budget doesn’t go nearly enough to change the fiscal trajectory of the country. It adds an additional $1.3 trillion to the national deficit (8.5% GDP) this year, and fails to significantly address entitlement spending. 

The plan also contains misleading budget accounting. Included in the “cuts” is $850 billion from ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It allocates $231 billion of the war “savings” to pay for transportation projects. The reality is that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan weren’t paid for. So using “savings” from the drawdowns of the wars to pay for new spending only adds to the national debt. There is no doubt that the country needs investments in infrastructure and transportation. Equally important, we also need entitlement reform, and the president’s budget does very little to address the growth of entitlements.  It proposes $360 in Medicare reductions, which is hardly enough to bend the cost curve. Current entitlement spending accounts for approximately 42% of total federal spending and that number will rise to about 54% by 2022 if nothing is done. Meanwhile, the White House argues that austerity in a weak economy will be counterproductive. Entitlement reform is not austerity. Meaningful reforms like capping Medicare growth or gradually increasing the Medicare and Social Security eligibility age will not have an adverse effect on the current state of the economy. Instead, it’ll send a strong signal to foreign investors that the United States is serious about controlling its debt, and is safe to invest in once again.  

If the Republican Party were more visionary, they’ll propose their own budget blueprint that includes entitlement reform, and coalesce around it. A balanced approach that cuts spending and raises revenue. It’ll show the country that they’re not the party of obstructionists but a party of bold ideas and solutions.

The Santorum Hat Trick

Just when you think Gov. Mitt Romney is the inevitable nominee after his big wins in Florida and Nevada, Sen. Rick Santorum revives his campaign with an impressive three-state sweep in Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado. He won the caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado with comfortable margins. He carried the state of Colorado with 40% of the vote to 35% for Mitt Romney, and won more decisively in Minnesota with 45% of the vote to Gov. Romney’s 17%. Even though the states didn’t officially award him delegates, he can claim that he has momentum, the Big Mo. And he’ll be right. He can begin to consolidate the conservative wing of the Republican Party around his candidacy.

But as impressive as his wins were, his victory speech was equally unimpressive and largely insignificant. He seemed to get carried away by the pep rally atmosphere of the moment. He confined himself to sound bites that were appealing to the audience in the room, and forgot to speak to the broader electorate. With a new wind at his back, the speech was a great opportunity for him to reintroduce himself to Republican voters and lay out in broad terms his vision for the country. That could’ve gone a long way in undercutting Gov. Romney’s electability argument. Instead, he focused too much on Gov. Romney and President Obama, and too little on himself. Last night was his night. He should’ve made it about him, about his candidacy, and about why America needs him at the helm. It would’ve made him look presidential and enabled voters, Party activists and the Republican Establishment to talk about him in a new way.

However, Senator Santorum did lay out a different, and what could be a more appealing conservative argument against President Obama. “He thinks he knows better, he thinks he’s smarter than you, he thinks he’s someone who is a privileged person who should be able to rule over all of you,” he said.  In short, he’s calling President Obama an elitist. This is a different argument from Governor Romney’s “Obama is in over his head.”  Nevertheless, to capitalize on his momentum, he needs to hone in on a message that is appealing to the most conservative wing of the Party and compelling enough for the Republican Establishment.