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Barbour The Best The GOP Has To Put Up Against Obama?

By Kleinheider Posted on July 19, 2009 at 5:43 pm

From Dan Balz:

Barbour brings a number of potential liabilities to any role as the face of the party. His Southern drawl reinforces the image of a party that has become, in the estimation of many analysts, too Southern-based. He is hardly a fresh face for a repackaged GOP, having been in the thick of national politics for nearly three decades, including a stint as Ronald Reagan’s White House political director. He was also one of Washington’s most prominent and successful lobbyists, the very kind of people Barack Obama railed against last year.

But his assets make him especially attractive to fellow Republicans. He is an aggressive and effective partisan advocate who knows how to mix humor with political attack. He has a vast network and is respected by many Democratic adversaries. He is as comfortable talking about the details of the House energy bill as he is about the metrics of an effective political campaign.

And to his long résumé as a Washington insider, he adds two terms as a governor and praise for his handling of Katrina’s aftermath. Other Republicans look to him for advice, guidance and leadership.

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5 Responses to “Barbour The Best The GOP Has To Put Up Against Obama?”

  1. Davy writes
    July 19th, 2009 8:06 pm

    If Republicans are looking to Barbour with hope for the future, they might as well just go ahead and give it up!

    Have they not gotten the message after four years of national losses that the party has to CHANGE?

    Only a leader who 1) is young and 2) is NOT from the South will have a chance to make the GOP competitive again.

  2. JohnnyC writes
    July 19th, 2009 9:36 pm

    Isn’t he a former tobacco lobbyist, too?

    Well, in April I would have said Mark Sanford was the best they could put up. Oops. Pawlenty is dull, but probably the most able to walk that line between being a conservative and a moderate without actually being pegged as only one of the two. He’s dull but doesn’t have the baggage that Palin, Gingrich, and even Huckabee have. On paper, Romney looks great, but ug- he is just so phony sounding and such a panderer. I might have voted for Governor Romney, but this 2008 campaign trail guy? No way.

  3. Emmy Lou writes
    July 19th, 2009 10:30 pm

    Doubling down on the Southern Strategy! Bold choice. Someone’s been listening to Uncle Pat, apparently.

  4. dontcallmemikey writes
    July 19th, 2009 10:32 pm

    Bring silky Haley Barbour on … that’s my kind of GOP candidate!

  5. dan writes
    July 20th, 2009 12:26 am

    I recall democrats saying the exact same stuff about Haley in ‘93 around this time when he was RNC chair. Sixteen months later he helped lead the GOP to their biggest landslide in modern history.

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