GOP Divided At CPAC

Following President Barack Obama’s de facto State of the Union speech to a joint-session of Congress, conservative activists such as Senator Ron Paul, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and writer Ann Coulter, attended the 36th annual Conservative Political Action Committee, CPAC, over the weekend.

After the Democrats’ victory in the November elections, the GOP seems to be in exile, as President Obama has expanded the government, especially with the signing of his stimulus package into law. Since Obama’s inauguration, the Republicans have been put in an awkward situation – either they work with the big government ideologies of the Democrats, or they stick to their conservative principals and continue to fight against President Obama and what his supporters.

In response, the Republicans, conservatives, and others that are against President Obama’s policies seem to have been fragmented into three different groups that seem to have been highlighted at the CPAC.

The first group consists of people who are going to continue to be outright against President Obama and the Democrats. This faction within the GOP is looking to Rush Limbaugh as their leader, who received the Defender of the Constitution Award at the CPAC. Limbaugh has publicly stated that he hopes that President Obama and his agenda will “fail” and has also asserted that the Republican Party in general has been reluctant to challenge Obama since he has become President.

The second group mainly comprises of moderate Republicans and those that believe that the Republicans can still work together with the Democratic majority in Congress. However, this faction was relatively unheard at the CPAC. Support has dwindled for this crowd since the passage of the stimulus package, in which Democrats only needed three Republicans to go along with the stimulus bill and they made sure got those three crucial GOP votes. To many Republicans, this was a sign that Obama’s message of bipartisan politics in Congress were untrue and that resolutions between the two parties were unrealistic.

The third group is usually labeled as the Libertarians or Constitutionalists, as their main goal is to see a small federal government. Therefore, they are against President Obama’s widening of the executive powers; yet, at the same time they cannot find support from the Republicans, who want to see civil regulations (i.e., gay marriage, abortion, etc.) and a strong national defense. This section of the conservatives were notably represented at the CPAC by Senator Ron Paul, who spoke about how both parties are not acting according to the Constitution and have thus devalued the reputation of the U.S. in foreign relations, civil liberties, and the economy.

So, where does this leave conservatives? The future is definitely not easy for them; as it appears that President Obama and his new administration looks to continue its liberal policies. The Republicans cannot even realistically challenge in 2010, since more Republican senators’ seats are up for grabs instead of Democrats. Instead, the conservatives must wait until 2012 until they can try to regain control of Washington D.C. again with both congressional and presidential elections. Even then, however, the prospect of a revival in conservative ideals and values looks bleak in America.

This article was published in The Collegian, La Salle University's student newspaper.