John Boehner submitted his application to remain Minority Leader to the Washington Post this morning. He attempts to lay out a roadmap for the Republican Party. If you parse his words, you’ll notice something astonishing. He talks about the core Republican principles of “freedom, opportunity, security and individual liberty,” but nowhere does he mention “traditional” or “family values”. He rails against higher taxes, labor bosses, trial lawyers, and government-run health care, but he has nothing to say about abortion, gays, guns, God, or immigration.
It looks like the early reaction of the Republicans is that they’ve lost the culture wars and they must return to Rockefeller Republicanism. If so, I welcome the change. But I will wait to see if they can stick to this strategy. I somehow doubt it.
