GOP Senator: We Haven't Learned

The Republican U.S. senator sits glumly across the restaurant table.

"I don't think we have learned much from the election in terms of what people want to see," he said. "We have the same gridlock."

By the same gridlock, he means that party hard-liners, both Democrats and Republicans, will remain in control of the machinery of Congress. And that means more of the same. It means more politics.

"We need someone who speaks from the center," he said. "Sarah Palin is not the voice of our party."

He talks a little about immigration. He is a moderate on immigration, which is to say he's out of step with most of his party. He says the Republican hard line on immigration hurt the party with Hispanics.

Obama won about two-thirds of the Hispanic vote this year, up from the 53 percent that John Kerry won in 2004.

And the Republicans are very, very worried about the Hispanic vote. They see the African-American vote as largely gone, but the Hispanic vote as a possibility in future elections. If only Republicans knew how to appeal to Hispanic voters.

"We have to become much more attuned to the rhetoric and issues that Hispanics care about," the senator said. "We have to talk about education, family and moral issues, like gay marriage and abortion."

"The perception among Hispanics is that the Republican Party is the party of the rich," he said and paused. "And in many ways it is."

He saw the problem as the presidential campaign advanced. The old labels that the Republicans used to hang on the Democrats did not stick.

"The Democrats talk about middle-class tax cuts! They weren't the party of the poor anymore! They weren't the party of gun control anymore! What did Republicans want? Tax cuts for the rich! And small government."

Small government — the mantra of the Republican Party ever since Ronald Reagan — will not work any more, the senator said.

"We can't revive the ghost of Ronald Reagan," the senator said. "People want government in times of need."

The election was a botch.

The senator is asked what he thinks George W. Bush's legacy will be. There is a long pause, which is followed by an even longer pause.

"Home ownership?" the senator says eventually. "That's not so good is it?"

"But he led with his heart!" the senator goes on. "Look what he did after 9-11. OK, he should have landed the airplane in New Orleans (after Hurricane Katrina). But on Iraq, all he did (i.e., invade) is what Hillary would have done."

So what about the future of the Republican Party? Who are the future leaders?

"Jeb Bush could do so much for our party, but his name is Bush," the senator says. "Maybe he should use his middle name: Ellis! Jeb Ellis! Or I could adopt him, and he could use my name!"

The senator had been smiling, but now he grows serious. "I don't know what his path to the presidency is. Sarah Palin seems to have been anointed by the media. But I don't know how she becomes the voice of the party by the power of her ideas or by going to Lincoln Day dinners in Iowa or Florida. But I did rallies with her, and she is a phenomenon."

He throws out some other names: Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, Charlie Crist and Bobby Jindal, the 37-year-old governor of Louisiana. "Jindal is a rising star from the get go," the senator says.

But the Republicans have got to be about accomplishments and not just rhetoric, he says.

"Over the next couple of years, we need to be pragmatists," he says. "Our battles should not be over ideology, they should be about getting things done."

And there is a bright side. Now that the Democrats control the White House and Congress, they will get blamed for everything that goes wrong.

"Things can turn," the senator said. "These are pretty tough times to be in charge. These are pretty tough times to have power."

To find out more about Roger Simon, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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