sounds like another blow to whatever hope the republicans have for 2012. this article goes on about how divided the party is.
Sheldon Alberts: Republicans compete to rule 'kingdom of irrelevance'
Posted: May 17, 2009, 10:51 AM by NP Editor
U.S. Politics, Sheldon Alberts
Already beset by morale-sapping poll numbers and bitter infighting among its leaders, U.S. Republicans on Saturday suffered another difficult setback when one of its potential 2012 presidential candidates quit the party to join President Barack Obama's diplomatic corps.
Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who was finance co-chairman for John McCain's failed 2008 presidential campaign and is considered one of the GOP's most promising moderates, was introduced at the White House as Obama's choice to become the next U.S. ambassador to China.
In a brief ceremony, Obama said his decision to selected Huntsman signifies the "extraordinary significance" he places on improving China-U.S. relations. The 48-year-old governor speaks fluent Mandarin, has adopted two children from China and is a former ambassador to Singapore.
But it's the political value of Huntsman's defection that set Washington abuzz. The Utah governor's willingness to forgo a potential White House run to accept a distant if important - diplomatic posting underscores the deepening woes of a Republican party that has yet to rebound from the November election.
"I knew that because Jon is not only a Republican, but a Republican who co-chaired my opponent's campaign for the presidency, this wouldn't be the easiest decision to explain to some members of his party," Obama said.
Huntsman said he accepted Obama's job offer "in the spirit of placing country before self or politics."
Huntsman's defection to the Obama administration marks the second loss of a high-profile GOP politician in a month, following on longtime Pennsylvania senator Arlen Specter's decision to join the Democrats in April.
"The Republican party, much like the stock market recently, is looking for the bottom," says Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
"What's happening now is exceedingly ugly, but it's also natural for a party that has gone from controlling everything to controlling nothing."
Even before Huntsman's decision to leave the GOP fold, the party has been scrambling to finds its footing. The Republican National Committee, the party's governing body, has called a special session next week to strategize on how to exploit signs of weakness in Obama's presidency particularly on economic and national security policy.
But those attempts to find a coherent message and a popular, competent messenger have been thwarted by months of bitter infighting driven as much by personality politics as policy differences. The highest-profile party renewal effort was the recent launch of the National Council for a New America, a "listening tour" launched by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and potential 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
The initiative was savaged with criticism by conservative leaders like Rush Limbaugh who said Republicans need instead to educate Americans about conservative values with a "teaching tour." Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, another potential 2012 candidate, mocked the council's principals as elitist.
"It's hard to keep from laughing out loud when people living in the bubble of the (Washington) Beltway suddenly wake up one day and think they ought to have a listening tour," Huckabee said.
The sniping hasn't ended there. Romney took aim this month at Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Commenting recently on Palin's selection by Time magazine as one of the world's 100 most influential people, Romney quipped: "Was that the issue on the most beautiful people or the most influential people? I'm not sure. If it's the most beautiful, I understand."
The sniping has grown so intense that former vice president Dick Cheney recently slammed former secretary of state Colin Powell as a turncoat for endorsing Obama, and said he preferred Limbaugh's vision of conservatism to that of his former Bush administration colleague.
"Of the two main American political parties, Republicans are now clearly distinguished by their driving desire to lose," Michael Gerson, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush, wrote in a recent Washington Post column.
"Every faction seems determined to rule the kingdom of irrelevance."
Most alarming to some Republicans is the re-emergence of Cheney, who left office with a 30 per cent approval rating, as the most vocal critic of Obama's national security policies. Democrats believe the prominence given to Cheney and Limbaugh, who made headlines for saying he hopes Obama's presidency fails, position the GOP as a shrinking rump rather than a re-emerging political force.
"I think that for as long as Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney are the face of the Republican party, they are in serious difficulty," says Jillson. "They will continue to wander in the wilderness."
A series of recent polls suggest Republican fortunes have continued to fall since the November election. A recent ABC News-Washington Post poll found just 21 per cent of Americans identify themselves as Republicans, the lowest
level since 1983. Meantime, a Rasmussen poll released Friday found that 38 per cent of Republican voters believe the party has a clear leader, but can't agree on who it is. McCain is still considered the most significant spokesman for the
Republicans, four months after he lost to Obama, according to Rasmussen.
"As the old political saying goes, you can't beat somebody with nobody," the polling firm said in its analysis.
According to Jillson, the finger pointing among Republicans has distracted from real opportunities to attack Obama on the issues. He cites Obama's recent budget, which forecasts deficits nearing $2 trillion in the upcoming years, and the recent government intervention in the U.S. financial and auto industries as natural issues for Republicans to exploit.
On two of Obama's biggest agenda items reform of health care and climate change Republicans have yet to offer detailed plans to Americans.
"It has to be the economic issues. They have to develop a message about how to restore the economy and the hopes of the middle class," said Jillson.
"And they are a few years from being able to do that."
National Post
Sheldon Alberts is Washington Correspondent for Canwest News