Washington Times: Is John Kasich the Next Reagan?

Overall, the writer gets the historical patterns. See what you think.

The so-called “establishment Republicans” (called derisively, “Rinos” (Republicans in name only) have been targeted by the tea partyers as soft on budget discipline and ineffective in their opposition to the Obama Democrats.

The resulting tension between the tea partyers and the Rinos has left the Republican Party in turmoil and confusion, and potential presidential candidates are already being identified with one or the other wing of the party. This lack of a unified Republican voice cost the party a loss to an unpopular president in the last presidential election, and threatens to do so again in 2016. The survival of the Republican Party as a national force depends on a new definition of the party, in the mode of the Reagan Revolution of 1980.

So, what are the differences? Primarily, the deficiency of the tea party is its lack of answers to any other problems than the national debt and deficits. It is a single issue movement rather than an organized political entity. The problem with the Rinos is that they can’t solve the fiscal problems because of their preoccupation with all the other problems of the country. What is needed is a bigger tent.

Enter Mr. Kasich, the hugely successful Republican governor of Ohio.

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