I sometimes troll websites of the winger magazines and think tanks to see what they're thinking (and sometimes just for laughs). Newt Gingrich's essay, "Seizing a Stable Majority," on the AEI website, was good for both. In typically pompous fashion, Gingrich evokes historical comparisons to argue that Bush can build a stable governing majority for decades.
The #1 issue towards building that majority, according to Gingrich--health care.
As a matter of life and death and the largest single part of the economy, health care is a critical area in which to build solutions.... We can have better health at lower cost. We can solve the uninsured problem and ensure that the health of minorities becomes as good as everyone else's.
...
Second, starting with health care, Republicans need to include African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans in their policy development and policy implementation. Because African Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanics disproportionately suffer from diabetes, the right answers on diabetes and obesity are inherently good answers for America's minorities.
Ignore his specific policy solutions (medical savings accounts, for example), and I think Gingrich has got it right. Health care is a core issue to build a successful governing majority around--but for Democrats.
It's a bread and butter economic issue that appeals to the working class--part of the party's historical base--and will also reach out to political moderates and the middle class.
And, it's clear, George Bush is going to do absolutely nothing about it: his only mention of health care in his first press conference was his promise to end "frivolous lawsuits." I don't know if Democrats in the upcoming Congress will defeat tort reform or not, but in fighting it they need to hammer on the message that if the Republicans were serious about helping patients--as opposed to HMOs and insurance companies--this isn't where their efforts would begin and end.
Gingrich's article, for those seeking edification or amusement, is at:
http://www.aei.org/news/newsID.21539,filter.all/news_detail.asp