GOP recovery a matter of when, not if

(OPINION By JACK COLWELL).The Republican Party is not dead. Nor is it dying. It is sick, for sure, but not with a terminal malady.Washington political pundits frequently write obits for one or the other of the two parties. Many a pundit writes now of the death of the GOP as a viable national party.In 1964, they wrote of the Republican Party's demise. Barry Goldwater was trounced in the presidential election, losing the East Coast, West Coast and Midwest. Even traditionally Republican Indiana voted Democratic. It was written that moderates were fleeing a party captured by conservative extremists, leaving the GOP as a narrow, regional party with support mainly in the South.Sound familiar?Yet, only four years later, Democrats had torn themselves apart over Vietnam, and Republican Richard Nixon was elected president.

In 1984, Ronald Reagan was re-elected over Walter Mondale, another trounced Democrat, who carried only Minnesota and the District of Columbia. It was written that the defection of Reagan Democrats had left the Democratic Party in permanent status as a minority party.Yet, only eight years later, Democrat Bill Clinton was elected president.

So far, President Obama is getting high approval ratings.Yet ... Who knows what will happen nationally and internationally?To take advantage of any adverse circumstances for Democrats, however, Republicans need to repackage their brand.
How long will Obama be lucky enough to have Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh as the foremost voices of opposition? This will require bringing additional voters into a bigger tent, as Reagan did, not driving away anybody who disagrees with some aspect of rigid political dogma.At some point, whether soon or several elections from now, the Republican Party will recover. maybe recovery will come more quickly, and it will be another 44 years before Indiana is again colored Democratic blue.A two-party system will function again, with the Republican Party again in the race. It is ailing. But the Republican Party isn't dead. Reports of its demise in the obits written by some of those Washington political pundits are greatly exaggerated.