A message to the Republican contenders
David Frum offers advice to each of the three Republican frontrunners. His premise is that "each Republican candidate has a powerful national message available to him. They just are not using it." Accordingly he suggests the following:
Mitt Romney should take advantage of the fact that 90 percent of Americans think our health care system needs radical reform and two-thirds favor universal health care coverage. Therefore, Romney should emphasize the fact that as governor of Massachusetts he introduced universal private-sector health care without a tax increase. He should make universal private-sector health care his great national cause. "Quit running as the social conservative you manifestly are not," says Frum, "and run as the superb manager and problem-solver you have proven yourself to be."
John McCain should also run as a good government reformer, as he did in 2000. Frum urges him to continue vigorously to attack the "sluggish and inept US national security bureaucracy and the poor planning for the Iraq war," and extend the critique to such matters as the "unpreparedness of US disaster agencies" and President Bush's "poor personnel choices" generally.
Rudy Giuliani should run as the man who overcame the feeling of hopelessness in New York, and therefore as the man who can do the same for America today. He should counter criticism that he's too abrasive by pointing out that this is what it takes "to defend the free world from the planet’s thugs, bullies, and terrorists." On the issue of abortion, his line should be "I will appoint judges like John Roberts and Sam Alito. I do not want to see abortion outlawed, but I am glad that the national abortion rate has declined by 30% over the past 15 years. And we all would like to see individuals make positive choices that will lead to abortion becoming even more rare in the years ahead." Then … stop talking.
This is all good advice. We should keep in mind, however, that the candidates have less than full control over their message in the contexts we are most likely to see them -- debates and unfriendly interviews. For example, during the MSNBC debate, Giuliani was full of talk about New York. However, he still had to answer the brilliant question Chris Matthews (I think) asked about how he would react to news that Roe v. Wade had been overturned. The question did not allow him to appeal to social conservatives by talking about appointing more Justices like Roberts and Alito. Instead, he had to talk about whether he wants to see Roe v. Wade overturned, and that was bound to be difficult for him in this context.
The good news is that each of these candidates has a good story to tell -- one that should generate broad appeal and differentiate the candidate from President Bush. And I suspect that each candidate is closer to having developed that message than Frum gives them credit for, though none is there yet.
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