KEY POINTS:
Conservative author John Fund had one message for the Republican luminaries assembled last week in a downtown Washington hotel room to choose a new party chairman. "You can either be doers or continue to be a doormat. I think you should be doers," he told the audience sternly over a buffet lunch.
It seems the crowd listened. When the Republican National Committee members then voted for a new leader they unexpectedly picked African-American Michael Steele, the first black person to hold the post.
Steele, a former deputy governor from Maryland known for criticising George W. Bush, will give Republicans a black public face. At a stroke the Republican Party seems to have joined the new America of President Barack Obama.
"It's time for something completely different," Steele declared after he won.
After lying low during the collective euphoria that accompanied Obama's inauguration the Grand Old Party is stirring. All sides of the defeated Republican Party machine are busily trying to devise a strategy of opposition to an Administration that enjoys extraordinary levels of goodwill. While Steele's appointment is intended to send a message of inclusiveness and outreach to voters, the hugely powerful conservative wing of the party has also been putting out its own message: back to basics. That message is not based on doing anything different. It is based on doing the old things better.
The Republican conservative establishment had been steering the party in the direction of strident opposition to Obama and a return to the principles touted by Bush of low taxes and small government. Despite intense lobbying for cross-party support by the White House, Obama's huge economic stimulus package failed to get a single Republican vote of support last week.
It was a remarkable slap in the face for the new President, who had made several key concessions to Republican demands in his attempt to get them on board.
Experts see the Congress vote as a vital point for the Republicans.
"By opposing the stimulus package, the Republicans have decided to make that a political issue. There is risk if the package works. But if it doesn't, there is also a possible reward," said Steven Mitchell, chairman of political polling firm Mitchell Research.
That tough anti-Obama line has been championed by many sections of the once formidable conservative media establishment.
The same forces that helped win two terms for George W. Bush have been cranking up the attacks. Leading the charge has been the familiar figure of conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, who gets 20 million listeners. Limbaugh has given Obama's start in office short shrift by declaring: "I hope Obama fails." He then showed his immense power over the Republican Party by hauling one Georgia Congressman, Phil Gingrey, over the coals for criticising him.
Such was the reaction to Gingrey's remarks that the congressman appeared on Limbaugh's show and grovelled humiliatingly for forgiveness. "I regret those stupid comments," a chastened Gingrey said on air. Other conservatives, such as Fox News host Sean Hannity, have accused Obama of putting America at risk from terrorist attacks by closing Guantanamo.
The conservative plan is a clear one: emphasise an agenda of low government spending and tax cuts; wait for Obama's stimulus package to fail; ramp up the attacks on him as a liberal; then, sweep back into Congress in 2010 on a wave of populist discontent and economic fear.
But some top Republicans fear that the party will become a regional "rump" of white southerners.
CONSERVATIVE STARS
Sarah Palin
Alaska Governor. The former vice-presidential candidate is wildly popular with the Republican base. She is likely to launch a presidential bid in 2012, giving the right a heroine to rally around. It is a prospect many Democrats will relish.
Rush Limbaugh
Talk radio host. With 20 million listeners to his special brand of right-wing vitriol, Limbaugh is a powerful unelected force. He is openly taking on President Obama, and woe betide any Republican offering the Democrats an olive branch.
John Boehner
Leader of the Republicans in House of Representatives. The Ohio congressman rallied his party to vote en masse against Obama's stimulus package. It was a powerful display of the famed Republican discipline machine at work.
Rick Warren
Evangelical leader. Warren is true to his conservative beliefs, but represents a more moderate form of religious belief. He gave the invocation at Obama's inauguration. His church shuns the hate-speech of the religious right.
Michael Steele
Republican National Committee chair. Maryland's former Deputy Governor has become the first black chairman of the national committee. A master communicator, he guests on cable news and radio shows.
- OBSERVER
