Why Romney Lost and What Republicans Can Do To Fix It

Justin Moreau is the first winner of our weekly Sunday Scribble contest! His essay is in response to this question. To see your own column in print, check out our submission guidelines!

While it is true that Romney did very poorly with the Latino and black vote (as the mainstream media constantly reminds us), it also true that he had less turn out among his base then McCain did in 2008. That is a staggering fact when put into perspective. Romney, (who was supposedly a much stronger candidate than McCain) had less turn out in conservative strongholds than McCain did in 2008. Add in the fact that the incumbent had an absolutely dreadful economic record to run on, and the fact that Romney could not pull these traditionally conservative districts is mind-boggling. The National Review reported that Romney got 2 million fewer republican votes than McCain did in 2008. How could this be? How is that fewer republicans showed up to vote after 4 years of a horrible Obama economy? This is the question that republicans should really be asking first and foremost. And I believe the answer is quite simple. The Republican Party once again, tried to play the middle of the road with a candidate that had no real conservative appeal. The party was so blinded by the idea of playing the middle that they forgot about their base, the people with strong values and principles. These were people who were not just going to blindly vote for Romney simply because he was against Obama. They wanted to vote for a real change, not a “lighter version” of Obama.

Sadly, his political career was full of flip-flops and back pedals that were easily seen by these voters. For many of them, he was nothing different. This is a problem that must be addressed if the republicans hope to survive the next few years of onslaught from the democrats. Once this is fixed, then and only then should they focus on the next issue of appealing to minorities.

We have to give the Obama Campaign credit. They successfully assassinated the character of the Republican Party.  The inability to refute the myths of racism, homophobia, and “Romney hates the poor” was a huge problem for the Romney Campaign. It is a narrative that has been allowed to root itself way too deep. But the fact of the matter is that if any party has racial and socio-economic bias, it is the democrat party. If the republicans can choose an eloquent candidate who does not need talking points to successfully convey his message, then they would have a chance. The candidate must be able to overcome the negative media bias by simply being more eloquent than the simple-minded media. If this candidate can overcome the media with his character, then demonizing the democrat party should be quite simple. Pointing out the failure of liberal policies not just recently but over the course of 100 years should be easy.  Showing that the unemployment rate amongst blacks is a staggering 21.3% (NBC.com) would undoubtedly reach at least a few members of the black community.  The same holds true for the unemployment number of Hispanics at 13.5%. If republicans are the big bad racists, then why is it that minorities are suffering now more than ever? Add in the amount of minorities living in poverty and needing government assistance, and you’ve got a very strong case of “racism” against the democrat party. The republicans spent way too much time defending themselves against these attacks when they could have just been flipping it on them at every turn.

Now the other thing that establishment republicans refuse to realize is that a significant portion of black and Hispanic voters holds the same values as traditionally conservative white families. Many of them believe in family, Christian values, work ethic, etc. Why is that these families continue to vote against everything they hold dear and vote democrat? Well the truth is that the Republican Party has allowed the narrative to get too deep that the party is “whites only.” Too many of these families feel that they are not welcomed in the party. They need to start a specific campaign that targets these minorities, and it needs to start now. They do not need to “move to the center.” They just need to sell conservatism unabashedly to them. The message needs to continually be inclusive to everyone, not just whites. The message needs to simply point out the failures of liberal policies amongst minorities, and show them how much they actually align more with conservatism than they do with liberalism.  It needs to be continually pointed out that conservatism gives minorities more of an opportunity than liberalism ever would. It needs to be shown that liberalism keeps minorities in place, never allowing them upward mobility.

Conservatism will constantly afford you the opportunity to move up. Again, this would take real leadership. The media is not going to let any republican just waltz into democrat green zones without a fight. This candidate would need to be able to spread this message effectively against a hailstorm of media attacks.

The bottom line is that republican candidates need to be bold leaders. It’s time we quit talking about “boldness” and start actually doing it. Romney was not “bold.” He was not a “bold difference” to Obama. We need candidates that don’t need talking points. We need candidates who can convey conservatism boldly because they live it, not because a campaign manager told them what to say. As Rush would say, “true conservatism wins every time it’s on the ballot.” So lets get true conservatism on the ballot!