Lessons for 2012 from 2010: GOP Edition

Reihan Salam has a very good column on GOP tactics and oportunities that I heartily recommend. He concludes:

The Democrats have offered a series of bloated, heavy-handed bills to tackle real problems facing the economy, and Republicans have been right to take them to task. But they’re now in a position to offer more cost-effective, scalpel-like proposals of their own that can demonstrate their readiness to govern. And besides, Republicans will still be well within their rights to criticize the Democrats for their major missteps in 2009—President Obama spent most of his 2008 presidential campaign running against George W. Bush’s first term. If Republicans choose not to pivot, if they instead continue to rely exclusively on scorched-earth opposition, they’ll find that victories in 2010 won’t translate into victories in 2012, when the electorate will be larger and more inclined to elect problem-solvers and not bomb-throwers.