In 8 Months and 20 Days

Fast forward to November 3, 2010. The election results are in. The GOP won a great deal of seats from either the previous months of rabid self-destruction by the Democrats who, once in power, did not know how to wield it or the Republicans’ efforts to highlight that self-destruction. The GOP maybe even won the 40-odd seats it needs to get a majority in the House.

Champagne corks pop in the beltway and in home offices with the historic victory for the Republicans.

Now what?

What does the GOP look like in November 2010?

Does Republican leadership know? Does anyone know?

Will it be the party who rabidly fought against Obama’s domestic policy in 2009 and 2010 while maintaining a hawkish position on National Security? Will it be the party who rolled over its own country?

As the Journal’s Daniel Henninger asked, will the right find a way “to separate the daily anti-Obama domestic policy wars (the front on which the 2010 election should be fought) from the hard complexities of the war on terror”? Because, after all, “[the] price of not giving this president more support than he gave George W. Bus is to let all the stone killers the jihadis can create over the next three years think they’ve got a shot.”

If GOP leadership doesn’t think this through and if conservatives quit circle-jerking each other about how wrong the current administration is instead of having tough discussion over our own strategy and identity, we’ll be unworthy of the victory that we’ll hardly have to work for in this year’s elections.

I go again to the Journal, but this time to Peggy Noonan who called this phenomenon “The Risk of Catastrophic Victory.” After spending some time discussing why a win on health care will be a catastrophic victory for the current administration, she expresses this same concern that I’ve long felt about the GOP’s status on November 3 of this year.

Ms. Noonan tells of a conversation she had with a “respected Republican congressman” who told her excitedly about a bill that addresses the growth of entitlements and long-term government spending, with little to no efforts by the GOP to get behind the bill. Ridiculous. She quotes the congressman as saying, in explanation for his party’s apathy, “They’re waiting for the Democrats to destroy themselves.”

Politico reports that GOP leaders have privately settled on a strategy to win back the House by putting the vast majority of their money and energy into attacking Democrats, what they call “the 80-20 strategy” (80% of the time whacking Democrats and the remainder talking about their own ideas). Please. This from House Minority Whip Eric Cantor.

Going back to Ms. Noonan:

“Republican political professionals in Washington assume a coming victory. They do not see that 2010 could be a catastrophic victory for them. If they seize back power without clear purpose, if they are not serious, if they do the lazy and cynical thing by just sitting back and letting the Democrats lose, three bad things will happen. They will contribute to the air of cynicism in which our citizens marinate. Their lack of seriousness will be discerned by the Republican base, whose enthusiasm and generosity will be blunted. And the Republicans themselves will be left unable to lead when their time comes, because operating cynically will allow the public to view them cynically, which will lessen the chance they will be able to do anything constructive.”
Let’s think hard about what 2010 will mean. For those of you who slant left, do a better job of justifying why health care should take priority over jobs and national security if you want to have a prayer of staying in power. Those of you in the right, think hard about whether your leaders have answers to the questions we’ll all be asking on November 3 of this year, principally:

Now what?