How Do You Solve a Problem Like Newt?

The Republican Party has problems…and so do the Democrats.  We’ll get there a bit next week with the latter at least for an end-of-the-year retrospective.  However, I couldn’t let this one pass because it’s been festering in my mind for a while now.

While we oftentimes hear about the humanitarian work of former Presidents (the Carter Center, Points of Light, the Clinton Foundation), most former congressional leaders don’t go that route.  While they have reached the peak of their profession (or one short if they were stuck in the minority), they don’t have the seven-figure book deals and six-figure speaking deals to sustain their pocketbooks, and frequently will spend a few years trying to cash in on their wealth of connections in Washington before heading back to their home state to issue the occasional obituary press release and have post offices named after them.

You see this with people like Dick Armey, who made millions for DLA Piper.  It’s true for Dick Gephardt, who sold his soul giving in on every principle he ever supported during his decades in Congress (seriously, don’t hit that link unless you want to cry).  It’s probably true for Denny Hastert (seriously-what is that man doing these days?  Is he in Witness Protection or something?  How can someone so prominent on the national stage so recently have disappeared so quickly from the national conversation?)  Trent Lott and Tom Daschle both became millionaires as high-powered lobbyists.  It’s even true for Tom DeLay, who decided to supplement his income as a Dancing with the Stars competitor.  In fact, the only former House leader who has stayed remotely involved in electoral politics since he left office is Newt Gingrich.

Gingrich, of course, is not the same as these men in terms of his notoriety.  Well-known as Bill Clinton’s public foil, he became the face of the Republican Party in the 90’s, and thanks to his frequent sound-bytes, sharp intellect, and his ease with a television interview, he’s stayed in the public eye.

Gingrich, unlike all of these men, decided to run for public office after he left the House, in an ill-fated attempt to run in 2012 for the White House.  Gingrich was probably the intellectual heavyweight of that race, but is far too unpopular from his scandalous divorces and deeply questionable moral character.  His public brawls with past wives and his lesbian sister, along with his playing fast-and-loose with the truth and his many financial improprieties have left him as poisoned goods on the national stage.

And yet he’s still a major face in the Republican Party.  The Democrats are able to drown out any small-time politicians because by-and-large they have a polished sextet leading the party: the Clintons, Obama, Biden, Pelosi, and Reid.  Yes, Biden gets (frequent) foot-in-mouth disease and occasionally so does Harry Reid, but they generally provide a united front and the nice thing about them is that only two are ever going to run for president again, and they seem relatively civil toward one another.  The Republican Party, though, lacks that core leadership.  There’s no one in the GOP that can say something that will count as the “overriding stamp” of the party.  If a rogue blue congressman say something unsavory, a quick rebut from Obama or one of the Democratic leaders is all one needs to change the story.  Part of the reason why the Todd Akins and Richard Mourdocks continue to be an issue for the party is that there’s no one ready and famous-enough to condemn them and put the issue to rest.

So perhaps Newt Gingrich is part of the problem, but he’s high profile enough that he’d be a good way for the Republican Party to start cleansing its past and looking to its future.  Like them or hate them, but the future of the GOP belong to people like Paul Ryan, Chris Christie, Scott Walker, and possibly Ted Cruz (the jury’s still out there).  Gingrich hanging onto the spotlight steals away precious coverage that could go to rebranding the GOP.  The former Speaker constantly coming back into the spotlight and throwing verbal landmines at the GOP is not helping them at all.  The Party needs to learn this and stop giving him the mantle-he might still be able to fundraise, but keeping someone like Gingrich (who you just know has a Newt 2016 logo being designed somewhere) as one of the faces of the party is damaging your brand, and allowing it to stay in the past.