Inside the Beltway

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By Jennifer Harper INSIDE THE BELTWAY

Party hearty

There has been considerable hand-wringing about the evolving Republican Party. Should it pitch a big tent, make a big noise, embrace Reagan roots, jettison old ways? It is a work in progress. Meanwhile, a nascent Tea Party is brewing, vibrant with folks from several political persuasions who are transfixed with the idea that they could be on the cusp of creating a viable third party by 2012.

Democrats, meanwhile, are having their own identity crisis.

"It is hard to avoid the conclusion that unified Democratic government has sparked a conservative countermobilization. Because we cannot rerun history as a controlled experiment, we will never know whether this could have been avoided had the Obama administration and congressional Democrats adopted a different strategy. In any case, it's too late to reverse it," says William Galston, a former Clinton administration adviser and New Republic contributor.

"Still, Democrats must ask themselves whether there's anything they can do over the next year — for example, a meaningful shift toward fiscal restraint — to reduce the intensity level of the conservative assault. If not, the combination of an energized opposition and an electorate battered by high unemployment, slow growth and the perception of out-of-control spending could set the stage for an ugly outcome," Mr. Galston continues.

"This wouldn't mean that Republicans had regained credibility as a governing party; odds are that it will take more than two years to erase the public's sour memories of the Republican congressional majority and George W. Bush's presidency. It would mean that a substantial portion of the electorate wanted to send Democrats a message that they had gone too far."

Screen gems

Those who control the partisan spin of political parties are well known. But who controls the spin of America's image here and abroad? The answer is not always apparent. But in retrospect, Condoleezza Rice and Michael Chertoff had much to do with an overlooked project that has done much to offer a viable, endearing vision of Americans in the post-9/11 era.

The former secretary of state and the former homeland security director joined forces with Walt Disney Parks and Resorts to produce a short film showcasing hundreds of Americans. It is not pretentious.

It is not excruciatingly politically correct. It is a product of something called the "Rice-Chertoff Joint Vision: Secure Borders and Open Doors in the Information Age."