Is a 'pick your battles' strategy key to the GOP's future?
Some party leaders are calling for a less confrontational stance toward the president
As a group of Republican and Democratic senators prepares to unveil a comprehensive bill to reform the nation's immigration system, the Capitol finds itself catching a glimpse of that rarest of beasts: A bipartisan attempt to tackle one of the country's thorniest problems. And we may be seeing more of the same in the months to come, though perhaps for reasons that have little to do with the desire to cooperate. For the GOP, fresh off a soul-searching conference in Charlotte, N.C., a more conciliatory approach is being seen in some quarters as the best way to return to power, after four years of nearly unified opposition resulted in President Obama's re-election. As Jonathan Martin at Politico reports:
Such a strategy would require the GOP to walk a fine line between showing it can appeal to a more diverse array of constituents and remaining true to its principles. According to Jennifer Rubin at The Washington Post:
Indeed, Ryan's name has been bandied about a lot in conservative circles as an example of how lawmakers can both compromise and remain ideologically coherent. As Robert Costa at National Review writes:
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However, if GOP leaders have settled on the outline of a game plan (and that's a big "if" — there are still many conservatives who oppose a "pick your battles" strategy), it has yet to sort out the details on issues ranging from gun control to gay marriage. More importantly, Republicans "can't agree on what the party's positive agenda out to be," says Molly Ball at The Altantic:
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Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.
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