Tom Del Beccaro: Republicans, Sun Tzu And President Obama's Fiscal Cliff Victory

◼ “War is…the continuation of politics by other means.” So said military strategist Carl Von Clausewitz. Many Americans these days believe the Republicans are not only losing this current political war, some think they are not even putting up much of a fight. Based on the recent results of the fiscal cliff negotiations, they may well have a point. - Tom Del Beccaro/Forbes

Perhaps they could benefit, in their battles with President Obama, from a few words of wisdom from another war-time philosopher/strategist, Sun Tzu.

...Republicans win the debate when it is centered on 3 things:

1) how much money government is wasting, and the related issue,

2) how to clean up government, and finally,

Republicans win when the issue is:

3) how to grow the economy – and therefore revenue.

At no time during the recent debate did Republicans even attempt to talk about government waste. If they had won that debate, then voters would not be inclined to give more money to government.

At no time during the debate did Republicans attempt to offer budget savings and sell them to the American people. If they had won that debate, there would have been less pressure to raise taxes.

Finally, and without question, Republicans for a long time have chosen to lose the prosperity argument. They allowed the Democrats to propagate the canard that the Bush tax cuts hurt the economy (however, apparently most of those cuts are suddenly ok according to this fiscal deal). Republicans literally and voluntarily have abandoned a pro-growth agenda.

In the final analysis, Republicans “negotiated” with Obama on his terms and how he framed the issue. Rather than do that, they also need to follow this advice from Sun Tzu: “So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong, and strike at what is weak.” That means Republicans need to make the Democrats defend government waste – one of their weaknesses.

◼ Forget The Whining, Here's A Plan For Republicans To Seize The Agenda - Tom Del Beccaro/Forbes