Pitching a Big Tent

There has been quite a bit of talk lately about the lack of an identifiable leader for the Republican Party. Perhaps its just a symptom of the "Hollywood" society we live in that there is an expectation that every movement be defined by a charismatic leader. An article by Charles Hurt in the New York Post on Tuesday titled "Republicans Desperately Need a Star" opines about the GOP leadership void while stating "You're flat broke unless you got a salesman, a pitch and a shtick."

It is true that the very best ideas need people to articulate them. But, the very best 'articulators' can cloud the best ideas. Then there is always the danger of having the brand tarnished by the salesman, no matter how good the 'pitch' and 'shtick'. The best solution is to have a product that sells itself. If the consumers of a product are so excited about it that they want to share it with the world, those consumers can be an amazingly effective sales force. On the other hand, a product that doesn't satisfy the customer is eventually going to flop in spite of the best salesman, pitch or shtick. So while the world wonders what is the right recipe for the GOP to use to get it's message out, the first problem that needs to be acknowledged is that a message has not been selected for distribution.

Across the entire spectrum between Rush Limbaugh and Arlen Specter people can be found expressing with certainty that the salvation of the GOP lies in moving to the right, or moving to the left or staying put. The Republican Party platform reads like a conservative manifesto, but candidates are not held to it's creed by the Party. The Republican Party primary is open to voters that do not identify themselves as Republicans and know nothing of the Party platform. A National figure of the stature of Colin Powell can campaign and vote for the most liberal Democrat President in the history of the republic and then go on to claim a Republican identity and be welcomed into the fold by RNC chief Michael Steele. What pitchman could sell the conflicting patchwork of ideas that the GOP is willing to embrace in the name of "big tent" politics?

No disrespect intended to Mr. Hurt, but the Republican Party's problem isn't the lack of a pitchman, it's the lack of a product.