Washington – After a brutal political month, Republicans are scrambling both to reassure their conservative base and to send a broader message to the American public – that they are, in fact, confronting the real-world issues of soaring gas prices, Hurricane Katrina relief, Iraq and immigration, while the Democrats are consumed with partisan warfare.
In a range of interviews on Friday, Republicans acknowledged the shock waves of the past few weeks, capped by the indictment of Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, the majority leader, which forced the reorganization of the party’s House leadership even as it struggled to deal with the fallout from Hurricane Katrina.
“It’s been a difficult week; I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” said Rep. David Dreier, the chairman of the Rules Committee, who has assumed new duties in the reshuffling. “We know we’ve got a big challenge ahead, but we’ve got an agenda.”
There have rarely been more troubled times for the Republican governing majority.
The DeLay indictment and President Bush’s second-term slump in the polls come amid a host of challenges and problems in domestic and foreign policy, including rising gas prices, the furor over the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, and public discontent with the war in Iraq.
Many Republican strategists noted that almost immediately, perhaps as soon as Monday, the White House has the chance to dominate the political debate with the expected announcement of President Bush’s second Supreme Court nominee.
Some argued that a showdown over that nominee could rally the party’s base, underscore divisions among the Democrats that were apparent in the confirmation fight over Chief Justice John Roberts and generally paint the Democrats as beholden to liberal interest groups.
