To many religious conservatives, the report was interpreted as a slight against their agenda and the hard work they have done for the party.
"The report didn't mention religion much, if at all," said Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association. "You cannot grow your party by distancing yourself from your base, and this report doesn't reinforce the values that attracted me and many other people into the Republican Party in the first place. It just talks about reaching out to other groups."
Sandy Rios, an Evangelical radio host and Fox News contributor, said the RNC report's proposals amount to a "namby-pamby" abdication of religious values, and warned that the party could soon lose the grassroots engine that has powered its electoral victories for decades.
"They should be deeply concerned they're going to be alienating their base," Rios said, adding, "It seems to me that the leadership of the party is intent on that course. Most Christian conservatives are not going to be party loyalists over principle, and so the GOP has a lot more to lose than Christians."
The RNC's Sean Spicer defended the report, arguing that the report ignored the religious right because the movement has " always done a fabulous job," so the party doesn't see this as an area in need of attention.
The truth is more complicated, and for the party, more politically perilous.
Reince Priebus has spent a fair amount of time lately reflecting on 2012, and it seems clear that he sees the Republicans' culture war as an electoral loser -- the American mainstream, and especially younger voters, just don't hate gay people, reproductive rights, and the separation of church and state the way the GOP base does. To grow the party, Republicans won't just have to change the way they talk about issues, they'll very likely to have to change which issues they're talking about.
It's why the RNC's report also makes no mention of "abortion," "marriage," "religion," or even "pro-life." These aren't the issues that will help the party become more competitive on a national level.
But this is where the Republicans' identity crisis gets tricky. Reince Priebus wants to use religious right activists as the party's grassroots base -- there just aren't enough oil company lobbyists to work phone banks and engage in door-to-door activism -- but also wants to pretend the religious right agenda isn't at the core of the party. For the movement, this isn't good enough.
Reince Priebus also wants to signal to the American mainstream that his party isn't dominated by culture warriors, and the GOP's support for a right-wing social agenda is purely superficial, but Republican policymakers -- at the state and national level -- continue to focus on reproductive rights and gay rights, either out of sincere beliefs or motivated by a desire to pander to the religious right movement the RNC is content to ignore.
It's an untenable, unsustainable dynamic. If Republicans continue to obsess over social conservatism, they'll struggle as a national party. If they don't, they'll alienate the voters they need to compete. The RNC's report hasn't papered over this problem; it's helped put a spotlight on it. |
