It's a matter of credibility!

The Republican Party has a credibility issue. They just can't seem to get their act together....

Barack Obama is making atrocious decisions with our National debt. He's proving to be over his head in a war he has absolutely no idea how to win. Abroad, he's clearly pandering to the Arabic community at the price of our close relationship with Israel. His cabinet is a mess, his "Czars" are dirty, he has a completely ineffective Secretary of State (as evidenced by her husband coming to the rescue in North Korea), but in fairness she is a pretty good dancer. In short, Barack Obama's early Presidency is a mess...a mess of extraordinary proportions to which we haven't seen since Jimmy Carter.

Now it appears as though the support from the independent voter base, which was so instrumental in electing Barack Obama, is losing ground almost as quickly as the national deficit. According to the most recent Gallup poll of Independent voters, Obama's approval rating is down to 48% from a high of 66% in May. Almost every demographic group in America is trending downward. Even Blacks, whom are still staunchly behind the President at a remarkable 84% rate, has trended downward by 5% in just three months. While this is going on, continuing downward trends in voter opinion about the Republican party and their viability also continues to fall. This is the most interesting point of all.

While President Obama's fall has been easy to see progress through his ill-advised big spending projects, usually a bump for the opposing party happens. Unfortunately, this has not taken shape. in May 2009, 25% of all Republicans viewed the party as unfavorable. At a time when one party is faltering, the other should be gaining ground. This has obviously not happened. So the big question is why.

The Republican Party has failed in gaining trust of the American people because they still can't get their own house in order. The vast divide amongst the haves, and the have nots has further crippled the outward appearance of the GOP to make decisions for the constituents they serve. The scandals of Randall "Duke" Cunningham, Jack Abramoff, David Vitter, Mark Foley, Larry Craig, and most recently, Mark Sanford and John Ensign, as further pushed the assumption that the Republican Party has lost touch with America. The ability to recruit and develop leaders has come down to an issue of money. Who has it and who doesn't. Is this what the GOP is truly about? Where do we go to find leadership....ETHICAL leadership. The answer is quite simple and makes complete sense. The Military.

Honor, courage, commitment, Esprit de Corps, loyalty, duty, respect, integrity.....all strong words and words that the outside world see as labels for military personnel. But for the men and women inside the Military it's a way of life. It's words they live by every single day. For the most part, vastly two-thirds of career military personnel consider themeselves conservative, which follows in line with the aforementioned values. According to a 2004 Military Times Poll of military personnel, 59% of ALL military members (not just career minded military members) called themselves Republicans. This is an astonishing number when less than one third of all Americans align themselves with one party or the other. To point this further, nearly two thirds of all Officers consider themselves Republican. Clearly, there is a base of leadership talent out there that understands not only the characteristics for military life, but they understand the world, leadership under fire, and are acutely in tune with political climates that affect their lives.

Michael Steele said at his acceptance speech as the new Chairman of the Republican Party: We stand proud as the conservative party of the United States, and we will make sure that the values that have made our party the Party of Lincoln, are part of the issues, part of the policies that are reshaping this country. It's time to put up or shut up Mr. Steele. Start recruiting from your strength and not what makes you the most money. It's time to show courage under fire, it's time to show true leadership in the face of adversity and time to get this country back on track!!