It's time for Republican soul-searching

Sorting out how the Republicans got butchered at the polls two weeks ago is essential if the GOP is to have any hope of rising from the ashes of its defeat.

President Barack Obama was not re-elected because the economy had turned the corner or because unemployment had been whipped. Far from it. President Obama was not re-elected because he had set forth a bold agenda for a second term that resonated with most Americans. He didn't. No, President Obama was vulnerable to defeat, yet he was re-elected handily.

How did it happen?

First off, luck has been his handmaiden throughout his two decades in public life. And more importantly, his campaign team is a superbly well-oiled and effective machine. But Obama's luck and his organization don't come close to adequately explaining why the GOP lost an election it could have won.

Fundamentally, the Romney campaign did not grasp the profoundly changing nature of America and its electorate. It was a fatal error.

Only 39 percent of white voters cast their ballots for President Obama two weeks ago. But the President took 93 percent of the black vote, 71 percent of the Hispanic vote and 73 percent of the Asian vote.

In 1992, whites made up 87 percent of those who voted for president. In 1996, it was 83 percent. In 2000, it was 81 percent. In 2004, it was 77 percent. In 2008, it was 74 percent. And this year, it was 71 percent! Get the picture? Obama got the picture, but Mitt Romney didn't. The changing face of America was the blind spot in Romney's rearview mirror — a fatal blind spot.

To put a bow on all of this, let's drill down a little deeper into one component of the electorate that has been and is crucial to the GOP — evangelical Christians.

In the crucial battleground state of Ohio, which every Republican must carry in order to win the White House, Democrats rely on building huge majorities in Cleveland in order to offset Republican votes downstate. In 2004, the Democrats and John Kerry believed Cleveland's black vote would put Ohio away for them. They were wrong. President George W. Bush carried Ohio by 2 percent.

The sharp point of the spear for evangelicals in Ohio and elsewhere in 2004 was their opposition to same-sex marriage. According to Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, same-sex marriage "was the hood ornament on the family values wagon that carried the president to a second term."

Nationally President Bush won 79 percent of evangelical Christians and 52 percent of Catholics. It was enough to win.

This year, evangelicals turned out in massive numbers and voted for Romney as heavily as they did for President Bush in 2004, according to Ralph Reed, chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. Two weeks ago, the evangelical vote was a record-setting 27 percent of the electorate. It was 10 percent better than John McCain received four years ago.

Two-thirds of Catholic voters who attend mass on a regular basis voted for Romney. In addition, Billy Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association bought full-page ads in multiple major newspapers on behalf of Romney in the run-up to election day.

The president of Ohio Christian University, Mark Smith, stated prior to the election, "The intensity of the voters in the faith community is as high as I've seen it in the last 12 years."

But an effort of this magnitude, that has in the past led to victory, fell short this year. While Romney won among white Catholics 59 percent to 40 percent, he lost the overall Catholic vote because the president won 75 percent of Hispanic Catholics. President Obama also won 95 percent of black Protestants, 70 percent of Jewish voters and 70 percent of religiously unaffiliated voters, which is the fastest growing religious group in the nation. Only 36 percent of young voters supported Romney.

According to Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., "Our message was rejected by millions of Americans who went to the polls and voted according to a contrary worldview." Mohler referred to the passage of same-sex marriage and the legalization of marijuana as "a seismic shift in the culture."

According to Michael Gerson, an op-ed columnist for The Washington Post, a Republican and one who was named by Time magazine as one of the 25 most influential Evangelicals in America, "It is more advisable than ever to make public arguments about morality in aspirational rather than judgmental ways. The next Republican campaign will need a candidate with a genuine, creative passion for inclusion."

Mohler said, "Evangelicals need to reach beyond their suburban walls. If we do not become the movement of younger Americans and Hispanic Americans, then we will just become a retirement community. And that cannot serve the cause of Christ."

Mohler's on to something worthy of reflection and introspection by evangelical Christians. Too many of their number already fit his description of a retirement community.

How the Republican Party and its most ardent group of supporters, evangelical Christians, choose to deal with upheaval in American culture and electoral politics will be fascinating to witness.

Their initial reaction is likely to be one of denial and anger. If that's as far as it goes, their days will be numbered.

And know this: If the GOP deludes itself that victory in 2016 can be achieved by simply putting a Hispanic on the ticket, it will punch another Democrat's ticket to the White House.

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