Emanuel hits GOP strategy

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A top House Democrat yesterday mocked Republican efforts to redefine itself as the party of change, saying the new campaign rhetoric does not alter seven years of defending the status quo under President Bush.

"Changing their slogan won"t change their record of rubber-stamping the president — $3 trillion in new debt, millions more Americans without health insurance, energy and gas prices skyrocketing and incomes stagnant," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the Democratic caucus.

He said the Republicans' new campaign message, in which they promise voters "the change you deserve," belies the party's steadfast resistance to Democratic proposals to end the Iraq war, expand children's health care, stop the wave of home foreclosures and increase investments in renewable energy.

A Republican leadership aide said Mr. Emanuel appeared to have forgotten that it has been a Democrat-led Congress for more than a year — a time during which gasoline prices soared by nearly $1.40 per gallon despite House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's 2006 promise of a "common-sense plan" to lower prices.

"Democrats have also voted for nearly $700 billion in tax increases, which experts — including Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke — agree is exactly the wrong medicine for our troubled economy," said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican.

"Rather than recycling stale talking points to evade responsibility for their broken promises, Representative Emanuel and his colleagues in the Democratic leadership should be working with Republicans to solve the real problems facing the American people," Mr. Steel said.

The Republican message and campaign strategy, which was first reported yesterday in The Washington Times, present the party as attuned to calls for change in Washington and argue that Democrats in Congress have failed to deliver on promised changes.

They have blamed Democrats for allowing gasoline prices to soar, blocking trade deals that could spur the economy and hamstringing national security by sidelining an update of government eavesdropping laws under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

"It starts with this: Washington is broken, the American people want it fixed, and Democrats in Washington have proven unable or unwilling to get the job done. Republicans will," said a Republican leadership memorandum to rank-and-file members yesterday that outlined the campaign strategy.

The Times obtained a copy of the memo.

Republican leaders, facing a potentially disastrous election this fall, are briefing members on the strategy this week and plan to announce tomorrow the party's new "American Families Agenda."

A top Republican aide, who did not want to reveal too much, said the families agenda is a blueprint for addressing challenges confronting families and will seek to replace outdated laws to help women with children who work outside the home and families in which both parents work. These kinds of voters often lean Democratic.

The overall election strategy includes short-term and long-term plans — to be introduced next week — that will tackle the rising costs of gasoline and diesel fuel, the aide said.

Beginning in June, Republicans will tout proposals to deal with health care, the economy and national security.

The Republicans, whose 12-year reign as the majority party in the House ended with the 2006 elections, devised the strategy to prevent further losses and, they hope, to chip away at the Democrats' 235-199 majority in the chamber.