The Art of the Political Comeback
How far can a major political party fall?
It’s a question Republicans seem determined to test these days. The party is shut out of power in the White House. In Congress, the Democrats now have enough votes to block a filibuster. Approval ratings for the Republican Party are at near-record lows. Worse still, at a time when Republicans are yearning for someone to lead them back to power, the party’s next generation of stars is drawing precisely the wrong kind of attention — from Sarah Palin’s jarring announcement that she was quitting as Alaska’s governor to the acknowledgment by Senator John Ensign of Nevada on Thursday that his parents had sent nearly $100,000 to a woman with whom he had had an affair.
Political comebacks tend to come in two forms. The first is when a party stumbles back into power because of the mistakes by the other side. A classic instance came in 1976, when Watergate enabled Jimmy Carter to win the presidency.
Read entire article at The New York Times
It’s a question Republicans seem determined to test these days. The party is shut out of power in the White House. In Congress, the Democrats now have enough votes to block a filibuster. Approval ratings for the Republican Party are at near-record lows. Worse still, at a time when Republicans are yearning for someone to lead them back to power, the party’s next generation of stars is drawing precisely the wrong kind of attention — from Sarah Palin’s jarring announcement that she was quitting as Alaska’s governor to the acknowledgment by Senator John Ensign of Nevada on Thursday that his parents had sent nearly $100,000 to a woman with whom he had had an affair.
Political comebacks tend to come in two forms. The first is when a party stumbles back into power because of the mistakes by the other side. A classic instance came in 1976, when Watergate enabled Jimmy Carter to win the presidency.
The second kind of march back to power, which takes longer but is more enduring, reflects a party’s success in coming to grips with changing conditions — demographic, ideological or both — and in finding a leader who has mastered the new political terrain. Mr. Nixon did this in 1968, and Bill Clinton did it in 1992.
History suggests that for a party to make a lasting comeback it must find new leaders who embody new ideas — or at least excel at repackaging old ones.