The GOP is licking its wounds right now. The people at home can buy into the media narrative all they want because it was going to be a razor-thin race. But ask any realist, and it was Obama’s race to lose last Tuesday, and boy he didn’t. Last week’s beating is not just the product of a bad campaign by the Romney team; it’s also the beginnings of a major problem for the Republican Party.

The GOP needs a candidate with passion and charisma. Though I may not agree all the time with what President Obama says, I can understand his unwavering beliefs. Not an “Etch a Sketch candidate” (to use the words of campaign manager Eric Fehrnstrom) whose positions are constantly changing. Romney was a political chameleon this election season, seemingly changing views on a whim.

The problem is that the Republican primary is built for failure. The social conservatives are such a major part of receiving the Republican nomination yet extremely crippling general election demographic. They cause the GOP candidate to tack so far to the right that it seems impossible for them to come back to the middle come November. And that change in platform is probably part of the problem. Not many people would trust a party that goes so far right and then switches its views. At least Obama starts left and stays left. 

President Obama was a very beatable candidate, still trying to recover from empty promises and an economic letdown. Twice the Republicans have spit out close-to-moderate candidates who don’t stray too far from the script, and twice they have failed. It seems like Republicans have thrown the whole kitchen sink at the problem and nothing has worked. They tried Sarah Palin, they tried Herman Cain, they tried (and I use “tried” generously with this one) Donald Trump.

The problem is that the GOP appears to be the party for old, white, Christian men. They are completely disconnected on social issues. The young demographic won’t go for the intolerance of a party who does not give equal rights to gay Americans, and I don’t blame them. Gay rights is the big social issue of our generation, and the Republican Party will continue to struggle if they want to take an ancient view on marriage. The defense generally finds its way back to a religious basis: Try to defend that position without saying God, the Bible, Jesus or anything else related to religion. You can’t do it without sounding like a bigot. 

The GOP has become disconnected from women voters as well. The way the party handled rape and abortion discussions was one of the most disappointing displays of public office I have seen in my life — let’s recall the legitimate rape comments from Missouri Rep. Todd Akin. It’s certainly a fair and defensible position to argue that life begins at conception, but completely misrepresenting basic facts about human anatomy, like when a woman is raped, to win an argument is daft.

The Republicans need a whole new narrative. By nature, the Republican party wants government to be less intrusive than the Democratic Party. If they could somehow market the message of limited government, more personal freedom and individual fiscal responsibility to a broader audience, then they could harness a pocket of young voters who have grown distrustful of government. New voters are generally liberal, and the Republican Party needs to figure out how to make conservatism as attractive to them as liberalism.

Fiscally, the nation is starting to rally around the GOP platform, but the party’s stances on social issues have disconnected them from many voters. Luckily for them, they have plenty of fresh talent in Sen. Marco Rubio, Rep. Paul Ryan, former Gov. Jeb Bush and Gov. Chris Christie that can re-energize the party, but it is going to take quite a bit of effort.

Brian is a junior in Media. He can be reached be at [email protected].