I've had a lot of different people ask me on several different occasions: "What camp are you in?" What they mean is, who do I fall in line with. Am I a moderate McCain type of Republican? Am I in the Huckabee camp, which represents a lot of the social conservatives? Do I fall into the Paul camp, with the libertarians? Or perhaps the Palin camp, where tea party support is rallied around?My answer is always: none of the above.
There's not a single politician that I don't have SOME kind of qualm with. There's not one person that has emerged on the scene where I've been taken by surprised and have said, "Wow! This guy/girl really represents me, Travis Gearhart!" Sure, I have my preferences, and my reasons behind those preferences, which you have all had the pleasure to read over the years, but there's not a one "camp" that I belong too, because I prefer to think of the Republican party as a team effort.
To me, building a sound, stable party, is a lot like putting together a great football team.
You have your star "receivers", like Mike Pence and John Thune. They are almost universally liked in the Republican party, because they have a strong conservative message and aren't negative to fellow conservatives if they disagree (at least that I've ever heard of, if they are privately that's another thing). They aren't used all the time by the party, they aren't always out there getting the ball, but when they are, they are good at what they do and don't drop too many passes.
There are the front lineman, like John McCain and Scott Brown, the more moderate of the Republicans. I consider them to fall into this category because the "hold the line" against those critics that paint the GOP in a light that is not conduit of a "big tent", and because they are the Republicans that, when they throw their weight behind an important issue, even independents perk their ears up. For example, with McCain being a moderate, there were many independent friends of mine who admitted that they really liked McCain, but got caught up in the Obama-mania. So when McCain spoke out against the health care bill, his opinion carried a lot of weight and helped changed the minds of a lot of independents. The moderates create a great defense to help keep the party from being painted as a bunch of "wing nuts".
Then we have the "rushers". They are the ones who represent one faction or another of the party and are constantly running the agenda forward. Huckabee and Paul would probably fit this category. They are pretty vocal about what faction that they represent, and can be seen in interviews constantly giving their opinions on one matter or another. These aren't used very often, for practical reasons, because while they are good rushers and have a burst of speed forward, they don't gain that much ground. Only a couple yards at a time. This doesn't mean these aspects of the party aren't important, just that they shouldn't be the primary play makers. They work better if they are mixed with the receivers, so as to keep the Democrats guessing which play is being made.
Finally, we have the quarterbacks of the party. Reagan was a quarterback, G.W. Bush was a quarterback, and I believe that Mitch Daniels is a quarterback. That isn't to say that any of these people weren't, at one point in time, a different player in the party, or that other players couldn't fit into this category in the future (Mike Pence, for one, will one day be an excellent quarterback) just that these people are the ones that have shown and continue to show the kind of leadership and decision making abilities that a quarterback has to have.
There are obviously plenty of other politicians that have different roles and fit into different categories, both named and not named, but I think I've outlined pretty well my thoughts on the factions and how each one can and should work, as a team, to move that football into the end zone. We have been playing some tough D, and we've forced the Democrats into a fourth down scenario. How we move the ball from here on out, and who we have in what position on the field, will decide if we can keep throwing up points on the scoreboard or if we're going to walk off the field and let the Democrats have the ball back. There's no two minute warning is this game, either. So we have to act fast and play well.
