Crystal Pepsi

I won't identify the source, but I heard about a meeting between Arnold Schwarzenegger and a Democratic pol where he exclaimed that he figured out politics, and "it's all marketing." Looks like the rest of the GOP agrees with him.

Coming soon to a battleground state near you: a new effort to revive the image of the Republican Party and to counter President Obama's characterization of Republicans as "the party of 'no.'"

CNN has learned that the new initiative, called the National Council for a New America, will be announced Thursday.

It will involve an outreach by an interesting mix of GOP officials, ranging from 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain to Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and the younger brother of the man many Republicans blame for the party's battered brand: former President George W. Bush.

Now there's an idea! The failed Presidential candidate and the brother of the guy who destroyed the GOP brand teaming up to remake the party! Does someone want to tell Republicans that "remake" means something new?

But that's not all! They're also bringing on stage the people who have created the failed GOP brand this year.

In addition to Sen. McCain and Gov. Bush, GOP sources familiar with the plans tell CNN others involved in the new group's "National Panel Of Experts" will include:

*Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a former national GOP chairman
*Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal
*Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney

It will report to GOP congressional leaders, and among those signing the announcement that will be made public Thursday are:

*House GOP Leader John Boehner
*House GOP Whip Eric Cantor
*House GOP Conference Chairman Mike Pence
*Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell
*The No. 2 Senate Republican, Jon Kyl
*And the Senate GOP Conference Chairman, Lamar Alexander

It's kind of amusing that Michael Steele, who's, ahem, the leader of the Republican National Committee, doesn't factor into this rebranding effort. Maybe because they've seen his Poochie the radical dog approach to attracting "the kids" to the party.

"You (Brzezinski) wear your hat one way you like to wear it, you know, kind of cocked to the left, you know, 'cause that's cool out West," Steele said. "In the Midwest, you guys (Scarborough) like to wear it a little bit to the right. In the South, you guys (Buchanan) wear the brim straight ahead. Now the Northeast, I wear my hat backwards, you know, 'cause that's how we roll in the Northeast."

I guess they tried to get Sarah Palin aboard as well, but couldn't reach her. When SARAH PALIN is reticent to join you, I mean...

I know that Republicans are never going to believe this, but maybe when they listen on the town hall meetings that will supposedly follow this effort, they can understand that nobody likes them anymore.

Republicans are widely viewed by the public as less competent than Democrats to handle issue ranging from health care to education and energy, according to internal polling presented to top GOP officials in Congress.

The same survey found President Barack Obama holds the support of a significant minority of self-described conservative, independent voters [...]

Democrats were favored by a margin of 61 percent to 29 percent on education; 59 percent to 30 percent on health care and 59 percent to 31 percent on energy. Congress is expected to consider major legislation later this year in all three areas.

Democats were also viewed with more confidence in handling taxes, long a Republican strong suit. The only issue among nine in the survey where the two parties were rated as even was in the war on terror.

Republicans can keep claiming that they "strayed away from their core values" and need to go even more base-crazy in order to win, but the facts don't bear that out.

(Lindsey) Graham scoffed at the notion that the party was suffering because it was not conservative enough.

“Do you really believe that we lost 18-to-34-year-olds by 19 percent, or we lost Hispanic voters, because we are not conservative enough?” he said. “No. This is a ridiculous line of thought. The truth is we lost young people because our Republican brand is tainted.”

And what the party appears to be saying is, let's taint some more!

Not So Fast With The Cost Cutting

I do understand the impulse for Obama to portray an image as a good fiscal steward of the people's money. And I agree that government can occasionally be wasteful and spend money on things that don't make sense. And I'm fairly sure that all of these cuts, $100 million or so, being made by Cabinet Departments have a sound basis and will not really influence the proper workings of government - in fact, they are far too small to do so. Government should run a tight ship and use efficiencies where necessary to cut costs. In the end, these are symbolic efforts.

But like Robert Reich, I don't want to see this get out of control in the midst of a Great Recession and a huge shortfall in demand. Government needs to continue being the spender of last resort, and any waste that creates a job is at this point not waste. In other words, this impulse toward fiscal restraint cannot go off in any other directions, particularly when it comes to entitlements.

Over the longer term, Obama must be careful not to put entitlement programs on the chopping block as part of a "grand bargain" to elicit Republican support for health care and cap-and-trade. Social Security is not in dire straights; it can be made flush for the next 75 years by ever-so-slightly lifting the ceiling on the portion of income subject to Social Security payroll taxes (and if Democrats are reluctant to do that on incomes over $100,000, then they could do so on incomes over $250,000).

Medicaid and Medicare are in trouble because health care costs are rising so fast, which argues for health-care reform rather than cuts in these important programs. Yet if health-care reform has any prayer of controlling the rising tide of health care costs, the plan must allow beneficiaries to opt into a public insurance plan -- something Republicans and the health-care establishment are determined to fight. So it's critically important that the Senate wrap health care into a reconciliation bill that can be enacted by a majority vote in the Senate.

The good news is that cost savings and real reform can actually go hand in hand. The Administration has argued that health care reform equals entitlement reform, period, and by bending the curve on health care costs we can improve the health of our budget while providing more health care to more Americans than ever before. Another more provocative example would be Tom Ricks' call to shutter the service academies and use campus-based ROTC schools in their place, saving money and breeding a better type of officer.

So let's not get too cozy with these calls for budget-tightening in a time where government needs to spend. And when we get around to saving money, let's do so in a way that INCREASES services and effectiveness for the American people. I actually think that Obama's team gets this, and are trying to do some rebranding on this stuff.

Branding The Recovery

I really think this is a brilliant maneuver. Not that it's anything new - it's essentially borrowed from local politics, where the city seal is plastered on every road project. When I was in Ireland a few years back, the highways looked like they were paved moments before I started driving on them, and the seal of the EU was on everything. Well, at every infrastructure project funded with stimulus money, you're going to see this:



One of the bigger problems over the past several years, something that has fed the tax revolt, is that people aren't accustomed to seeing anything tangible in return for their funding the government. It's all around them, in the form of roads and police and fire departments and libraries and public schools and post offices and on and on, but it doesn't feel that way. Stamping an emblem, so that people know this is a part of the recovery and will remain long afterwards, is important. It's a graphical pushback on the myth that all taxes are wasted money given to corrupt politicians. It's very sharp.

President Obama discussed this investment in infrastructure today. And the Vice President went out of his way to note that Republic Windows and Doors, where workers held a sit-in strike to protest being given hours of notice before being thrown out of their jobs, has reopened thanks to the stimulus funding. On this element of domestic policy, the Obama team is running a very good strategy.