By Christine Todd Whitman
NJ.com
August 16, 2013
Although I don’t often find myself extolling his ideas, I applaud Newt Gingrich’s speech to the Republican National Committee’s summer meeting this week. Gingrich reminded our Party leaders that we need to move beyond blind opposition to President Obama and demonstrate that we have positive solutions to the issues the nation faces.
I particularly appreciated his admonition that Republicans not call for the repeal of Obamacare with no suggestion of what would replace it – a point I have been making for some time. We should not and cannot be known as the party that opposes Obama’s initiatives, and passes socially conservative initiatives in the state legislatures.
“We have to get beyond being anti-Obama and we have to convince people you can have hope in America,” Gingrich said on Wednesday. “What we have to do…is be a party of optimism and a party of hope and show actual cases of how it can work.”
Gingrich’s speech was part of an RNC meeting that seems to be moving the Party in a very helpful direction. The meeting in Boston will highlight four “up and comers” who are from diverse backgrounds, and Reince Priebus is calling for a more positive approach to issues. These elements represent an exciting future for the Republican Party – one that is desperately needed.