Does RE-Branding + RE-Messaging = Resurgence for the GOP?

Regardless of the results of the Minnesota re-count process and the special election December 2, Democrats have been very successful this election, most notably with the selection of the first African-American elected to the presidency. Many African-American churches have sung in celebration of the Obama victory.

In the political church of the GOP, the tune sounds more like the old classic, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen."

Of the many things bantered around during the post-election analysis has been the failure of many Republican candidates at the local, state, and federal levels on Election Night. Regardless of whether the candidates were entrenched incumbents or upstart politicians, all have said that the heavy losses incurred by the GOP November 4 were a collective indictment of the Republican Party by voters across the board. ...

With this legacy of failure looming post-election, many political pundits and Republican apologists have offered theories for the Republican meltdown as well as remedies for a Republican resurgence. Many correctly point to the economic crisis and the unpopularity of the current lame duck president George W. Bush as major factors in the undoing of the GOP in 2008. However, Republican leadership is explaining away its poor showing with other reasons as well.

Some are saying that the GOP must undergo a re-branding of the Republican Party brand because of the failures of Republican leaders after the "Contract with America, " authored in initially after the mid-term election of 1994. Leaders such as Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska), Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC), and others can be heard commenting that Republicans came to Washington, DC to change the way Washington operates, only to be changed themselves upon gaining power on Capitol Hill.

Others would validate this opinion by pointing to the growth of government under the Bush II Administration and the candidacy of a moderate-leaning presidential candidate in Senator John McCain. Having Bush and McCain as standard bearers of the party, many argue, betray the principles of the Republican Party and alienate the average American voter from GOP candidates.

In the mind of the average American, the current GOP brand has less to do with Republican principles than it does with current Republican way of life, which includes public mistrust, political scandal, and personal hypocrisy. A change from these ways, many would contend, would lead to a renewed embrace of the conservative party.

With that in mind, others would point to the rejection of several statewide propositions as proof that is still receptive to conservatism if only Republicans would collectively practice what they preach. With most politicos agreeing that America is still aligned with a center-right political identity, many argue that effective messaging of Republican themes would quickly close the gap of disconnect between American voters at all levels of government and Republican candidates. Republicans now look to the future, highlighting stars such as former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin , and US Congressman Eric Cantor (R-VA) as examples of worthy ambassadors of the GOP brand. Although many would clearly welcome a second coming of the Great Communicator, most would settle for a strong conservative within the Republican Party that can both "talk the talk" as well as "walk the walk."

That theory, although valid, also does not hold as much validity as one many think. Those that could easily handle the communicative mantle of GOP ambassador – including those such as Gov. Romney and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee – did not measure to be conservative enough for those within the GOP's less-moderate factions of the party, thus hampering their ability to make a difference despite their overall appeal (especially Huckabee) to at large.

Both re-branding and re-messaging of the Republican Party is needed for the GOP to become more effective moving forward. However, if the GOP is serious about becoming a relevant option for a changing voter base in 21^st century , it will need to add another "RE" to its list to bring about REsurgence.

It will take recognizing that a renovation – most notably a renaissance - of the party must occur...and now.

The election of Barack Obama to the presidency – and the apparent sweeping of several prominent Republicans along the way – was less of an indictment by non-traditional and new voters (the very ones that made the biggest impact on the election with their overall unanticipated involvement) of any political theory or messaging snafu. Instead, these voters found a comfort level within the dynamics of the Obama Wave due to its message and imagery of inclusion.

For all of the Republican rhetoric about less invasive government and more personal freedom, the GOP has become a political structure that exudes a sophomoric peer pressure to be homogenous in thought, look, and lifestyle to a level that often makes the Stepford Wives look like Girls Gone Wild. The lack of diversity of race, ethnicity, gender, and thought that most comment about concerning the Republicans makes the GOP an endangered species in an ever-changing America, one in which alternative lifestyles, non-traditional families, and hybrid cultural experiences are more the norm than the exception.

This failure to engage (even if not accepting) the dynamics of American social lifestyle – unknowingly or intentionally – leads the Republicans to ignore huge segments of our country, potential voters that may now be dedicated Democratic voters because of the Obama Phenomenon. If this trend continues, it will be hard for Republicans to win the White House within the near future while forfeiting California (55 electoral votes), New York (31), Michigan (17), Massachusetts (12), and even Illinois (21) because of its inability to solve its diversity deficiency and slide towards a Big Tent philosophy (even if it is not completely accepted.)

Giving up 136 electoral votes to your opponent every election makes it difficult on the path to 270 and presidential victory. Everything else would seem to need to be perfect, a trait that Republicans have certainly not been in recent times.

There are movements out there to uplift the Republican brand without changing the core values of the party. However, if the local, state, and federal party structures continue to practice a mantra that promotes the status quo, the GOP will either lose these activists and potential candidates or become fractionalized by them to a point where the party's current ineffectiveness will be increased further still.

Renaissances have been instrumental throughout history to allow people to promote new ideas for attaining current goals. If the Republican Party seeks to be relevant to this Republic post-2008, it must discover the ability to bake itself into the fabric of while developing bridges to new talent and new activists in areas that have been recently unexplored. Anything less decreases the chance of resurgence in the near future for the GOP, regardless of presidential or congressional performance.

Or, in other words, the political church of the GOP goes on preaching its gospel to an ever-decreasing choir.

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Lenny McAllister is the Political Guru for Fox News - Charlotte and blogs the Republican side of politics for BlackVoices. He is a frequent contributor to The Charlotte Post and The North Carolina Conservative.

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