WSJ: To win GOP Needs Positive Agenda

A Republican victory in November is far from secured with the six seats needed to capture the Senate remaining in doubt. There could also be fewer wins in the House than anticipated. Chances of repeating a 2010-style wave victory are diminishing. A campaign that relies on talking down an unpopular President Barack Obama ignores how discontented voters are with Congress and the consequences of the GOP's "kamikaze government shutdown," The Wall Street Journal editorializes.

There will be no GOP victory in the absence of a positive agenda. Republicans need to tell voters what they would do with a victory. It is not enough for Republicans to point to the continued economic woes of average wage earners, instability around the world, or rely on the fact that key races are being fought on turf favorable to conservatives, the Journal says.

Democrats are spending millions to tar GOP candidates "as creatures from the black lagoon," while Obama is claiming that Republicans are opposed to everything. The absence of any common GOP agenda only plays into the Democratic critique, according to the Journal.

"Republicans need to show voters what they're for" though, given the rift between establishment and tea party Republicans, the best course would be to select "smallish ideas" that most can embrace.

The proposals should speak to voters' concerns and be likely to pass both houses of a GOP-controlled Congress. "This would give the GOP something positive to talk about, beginning the long process of repairing their public image," the Journal editorializes.

To demonstrate that the campaign is "about more than attacking Mr. Obama" the newspaper offers a few possible ideas for starters that Republicans could embrace:

• Allow individuals to opt-out of Obamacare by purchasing the policies they want.
• Repeal "too big to fail" Dodd-Frank financial regulation.
• Promise to go beyond building the Keystone XL pipeline and increase domestic energy production and exports.

The last thing Republicans should want is a narrow Senate win followed by bad-mannered elements pushing for impractical lawmaking. That would set the stage for a Democratic win of the White House in 2016 and the possibility of Republicans again losing their congressional majority, the Journal concludes.

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