NOT SO FAST, GOP – AT 10:23 A.M. ET:  Some of the smartest Republicans, and their supporters, are already warning the party that last week's election was not an embrace of the GOP, which remains unpopular, but a rejection of the Obama administration.  Republicans must build trust, and even affection.

A new warning comes from Scott Rasmussen, and should be taken seriously:

Voters have decidedly divided opinions about House Republican plans to investigate the Obama administration’s performance to date. GOP voters like the idea; Democrats don’t.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters finds that 40% favor House GOP intentions to investigate the past actions of the current administration. Forty-four percent (44%) oppose such investigations, while 16% are not sure about them. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Sixty-six percent (66%) of Republican voters approve of the investigation plans, but 72% of Democrats are opposed to them. Voters not affiliated with either party are almost evenly divided over the idea.

Among all voters, 43% say House GOP plans to investigate are more about partisan policies than in making sure inappropriate or illegal things don’t happen again. An identical 43% think the plans are intended to make sure wrong things don’t reoccur.

COMMENT:  I don't want to see the Republican Party become what the Democratic Party has become – a bunch of vindictive investigators.  There may well be some investigations that are proper, and surely much greater oversight is required, especially oversight of the Justice Department and our foreign policy.  But endless investigations will simply turn off the American people.  In the midst of this deep recession, Americans want action and progress.

Republicans must establish themselves as the party of ideas.  They must come up with one imaginative proposal after the other, to position themselves for the 2012 campaign, which will soon be upon us.  Investigations are a second-tier priority.

November 10, 2010