Fixing Washington

An interesting Reuters article today about the special election in Massachusetts, barely won by Niki Tsongas, concludes that the Democrats’ overconfidence may come back to haunt them in the next election.

According to the article, “Former President Bill Clinton and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi campaigned with Tsongas. For some voters, their presence reinforced her image as a Washington insider. Ogonowski downplayed his Republican ties and instead vowed to fix a ‘broken Congress’ and fight illegal immigration.”

It goes on to quote a Democratic pollster: “There’s a real anti-incumbent, anti-Washington mood out there. Democrats cannot take for granted that just because voters are upset with the Republican administration it doesn’t mean they think Democrats are much better right now.”

With approval ratings for the Democrat-controlled Congress hovering in the teens and the low 20s, Republicans have an opportunity, despite all the odds, to take it back next year.

To do that, though, they need to be smart.

They shouldn’t try to resurrect the Republican brand. They should just talk about how they will fix Washington.
People hate Washington. They hate how it takes and wastes their money on big government.

They hate the arrogance of Washington. They hate how Washington bureaucrats tell them what to do.
They hate Washington incompetence. They hate Washington bickering. They hate the bitter Washington partisanship.

So how do you fix Washington?

You break up the power of bureaucracy. You move more government agencies to other parts of the country. You focus on an agenda of transformation. You make the power of Washington smaller, but you make the government smarter.

You don’t pound your chests and talk about how Republicans are better. Instead you get candidates who talk in one voice about how they are going to fix Washington and bring power, influence and money back to local government and the states.

You follow the leads of guys like Charlie Crist, who put their states first and their politics second.

The voters think Washington is broken. Let’s give them a plan to fix it.