The GOP's brand equity
David Frum
One of the more memorable quotes of 2008 was retiring Representative Tom Davis’ assessment of his own Republican party: “If we were a dog food, they would take us off the shelf.” Well, the votes are in and this dismal, doomed dog food has just received … almost 47 percent market share. If Alpo ever gained such an impressive share, the company would issue a special dividend to celebrate its success.
Congratulations to the Democrats on their big victory. But one of the less discussed stories of 2008 is the impressive robustness of the Republican brand. McCain, in this horrible Republican year, won a higher share of the vote than Michael Dukakis in the not-so-bad Democratic year of 1988—and he lost to Barack Obama by a narrower margin than Carter lost to Reagan in 1980.
This residual Republican strength rests on a solid social fact: the Republican super-majority among white Americans. In this disastrous year, John McCain won an apparent 55 percent of the white vote. His vote among non-college whites was even higher—58 percent.
Non-college whites represent a dwindling share of the American population, and political majorities can no longer be built on their votes alone. But they remain a very solid base—and one from which Republicans can grow.
Here are the party’s residual assets:
Republicans remain the party of American nationalism. The BBC broadcast on election night an early morning celebration in Obama’s ancestral village in Kenya. The correspondent was visibly moved by the enthusiasm of the poor villagers. But many Americans watching that broadcast might take a more jaundiced view: Who is this Obama guy working for anyway? Obama’s international appeal is both a tremendous strength for him and a potential weakness among nationalist voters.
Republicans remain closer to the ideal of equal treatment under law. Obama’s victory represents a historic milestone on America’s journey toward more equal justice. Yet for all the justified celebration of that achievement, it is equally true that he is the candidate of a party that champions the vast system of racial preferences and quotas that distorts American education, employment, and contracting. The racial spoils system is likely to intertwine itself even more tightly with the national economy in the years ahead. With the federal government holding ownership stakes in so many major financial companies, borrowers and lenders alike will come under intense new affirmative action pressures.
Republicans remain the party of America’s indigenous culture. America was founded as a colony, and like all post-colonial cultures, Americans react badly to the suggestion that foreign = better. An Italian prime minister can safely enjoy opera because opera was invented in Italy. An American politician had better prefer NASCAR. I’ll concede that there was something unusually obnoxious this election cycle in the way Republicans divided the “real” from the “fake” parts of America. There was force behind Jon Stewart’s retort, “If New York was American enough for Osama bin Laden, it ought to be American enough for you.”
Still, it’s not oversensitive for many Americans—especially those far from the coasts—to sense in the style and presentation of, say, a John Kerry, what Australians scorn as “the colonial cringe” and to see in the style and presentation of a George W. Bush or a John McCain something that is more authentically their own.
American culture is changing of course, as cultures always do. And now it has elected a man named Barack Obama—who offers a very different vision of what it means to be an American.
Tuesday’s vote demonstrates that the GOP’s residual assets no longer suffice to win a national election. Republicans will need new policies and a new tone for that. American nationalism must be linked to more modern social values and more effective and successful economic policies. But they are assets that put a floor beneath the current Republican decline. And that’s at least a beginning.
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8 Comments
Posted by James Serrat, Friday, November 7, 2008, 3:18 pm IMHO it's time for the republicans to get off the social values thing and focus on the economy, foreign policy and other issues that we ALL have in common. Social values only serve to underscore what differentiates and possibly divide us. Cut the extremist religious loose and regroup around libertarian ideals.
Posted by Jerry Friedman, Friday, November 7, 2008, 4:10 pm I agree with James. The social values issues are more divisive than helpful. I am a supporter of small gov and conservative eco issues. Why do i have to wrestle with stem cell research and choice issues to find a party to support? Religious views are fine, just like preference for favorite ice cream flavor, but why should these issues guard the gate?
Posted by Brett, Friday, November 7, 2008, 4:17 pm If a lot of republicans think like Frum, then you guys are in for another sobering election loss in two years and possibly beyond. You keep looking to the democratic party from 40 to 80 years ago to get your understanding as to what they are about. That's not how they are anymore, especially now that Obama is president-elect. He's too smart and innovative to just follow old policies like he has no other choice. Although Pelosi and Reid are unfortunately still in Congress, the non-republicans (it's really more than just democrats) of the 21st century have observed and learned from recent history, and they aren't going to be the old caricature that Frum and his buddies seem to expect and hope for. Republicans need to be more fluid and up-to-date in their thinking or they will never be a decent opposition to the dems. Another huge point is the fact that nationalism is NOT a good thing. The reality that the republicans are the party of American nationalism is a big reason why they lost so badly this November and so many people were rejoicing not only in our country but so many others around the world. Don't you understand that yet? I don't mean this as harshly as it sounds, but no one else is as impressed by your nationalism as you are, and no one in any other country fears republicans any more than they fear anyone else in the United States. Nationalism is what fed the Nazi beast as well as many other totalitarian regimes. It's not a healthy or useful feeling past a certain point. We can be strong and secure without being obnoxious to all others. Other countries seem to do fine without ugly nationalism. Why can't we? When Russia gets nationalistic and starts to bully others, does that make you want to cower in fear or does it make you want to stand up to them more than ever? I tend to go with the latter, personally, and that's how others feel when we have been the nationalistic ones. The assertions that the "republicans remain closer to the ideal of equal treatment under the law" is laughable at best, so we won't even go into that. Affirmative action is not a very big part of our lives and it is often necessary to counteract prejudices and the "old boy's networks" that still pervade much of our society. The republicans only did as well as they did this past election because so many people do automatically identify with them, although most of those people can't coherently say why, and because of John McCain's past as a war hero and his past as a maverick 10 years ago. If they had put Romney or Giuliani or anyone else up against Obama, then it probably would have been a huge landslide. Republicans have a lot more thinking to do before you start making a come-back, just like a lot of older democrats have more thinking to do even though their party is the one in power right now.
Posted by Egor, Sunday, November 9, 2008, 11:27 am David -- in this article you seem to have made the same mistake that doomed the ruling Republican party in this election. Why can't you just accept that America is changing as is the definition of American and, therefore, the definition and look of "American nationalism?" It's a new, more inclusive day. Why don't you celebrate with the rest of us.
Posted by Corwin Brown, Tuesday, November 11, 2008, 12:54 pm I believe that it is both rediculous of the writer to assume that everyone sees themself in George W. Bush, and to say that we cannot enjoy anything foreign or influenced by foreign culture. This man is sadly mistaken in his assuptions and thoughts presented in this article. It is sad to see that people still think like this in today's society.
Posted by John, Tuesday, November 11, 2008, 5:24 pm Republicans are the party American nationalism and non college educated whites. Does this sound like a formula for a national party. And btw David check the votes that have been counted so far, theres still quite few in the liberal Pacific coast still still to be added up, Obama got close to 53% of the vote and McCain got 46.1% NOT 47%. Perhaps David should check out the latest opinion polls which are giving Obama almost 70% approval ratings. If he engineers a turnaround in the economy, brings the boys home from Iraq, he walks a second term in 2012 by which time the country is going to be unrecognizable to Frum and the far right.
Posted by Nathaniel Daley, Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 12:30 am Mr Frum, I am sure that as an author and longtime political speechwriter, you understand much about the political landscape. But this article proves to be nothing more than a partisan pipe dream. The assertation that people still see President Obama as foreign because people all over the world including Africa celebrated along with most of our own country is stupid at best and, dare I say, Anti American at worst.It is time fro conservatives to accept some hard facts. Fact: Our new President won more of the votes than the God of conservatisim in his first go round Ronald Regan. To write this off as a blip on the electoral radar is well ,quite frankly, what leftists like myself want to hear. We want you to sound as deluded as possible. We want you to try and kneekap our new President as often as possible. We want you to put your principles before the needs of your ever shinking constiuencey. When an entire region of the country has basically kicked out all Republican from representation you should be thinking about more than how McCain won the white vote.Bringing me to my next point. FACT: Your policies were as much a part of this election landslide as any other factor. Your poimt that Obama lost the white vote is valid, but the truth is that due to your immigraton policies and affirmative action stances when combined with an ever growing number of blacks and latinos registering to vote, you guys are one election cycle away from President Obama needing to cary no more than maybe 20 percent of the white vote in order to retain his seat which he could do in his sleep. So keep up the talk about that gate along the border. We could always use the more voters in Texas and New Mexico and Florida and,well you get the point. FACT: Not all Conservatives are racist, sexist and obsessed with non issues,but the majority of them have teleivision shows. Part of your inablility to break into new demograpghic markets is that while some in your party site and rightfully so that yours is the party of Lincoln and MLK the reality is that all too often becasue of your good friends at Fox News yours is also the party of David Duke and Bill O'Riley and Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. We know we have nuts on the left too, the difference is that not nearly as many of them look at Neilsen ratings after thier tantrums. At the end of the day, you guys have alot of work to do. And as an African American liberal from the fake American city of New York I hope that you fail on some levels. But I dont wish death to your party beacuse we need legitiment debate in order to make the best decisions for our great coutry. The question is, are you going to debate or divide? I leave that to you.
Posted by Gene, Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 1:06 am As a moderate conservative, I find David's advocacy for an agenda closely resembling nativism to be disturbing. Aside from being a primitive platform on which to build our party (what happened to big ideas and creative solutions?), the implication of this article seems also to center the party around white fear of racial and ethnic diversity. The GOP as the 'indigenous,' 'nationalist' party? NASCAR as the "real" American culture? Fear of celebrations in Kenya? There is a disturbing undercurrent in this piece, and it augurs poorly for the direction of our party.
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