WASHINGTON — A generation after Ronald Reagan declared that the only thing wrong with the American economy was government attempts to manage it, GOP presidential candidates are struggling with that central tenet of conservative orthodoxy as they confront the nation's current financial turmoil.
Although most of the major GOP rivals entered the 2008 race claiming to be Reagan's rightful heir, their allegiance to the idea that government should get out of the way and leave the economy to the private sector is colliding with widespread demands for government action.
Some GOP contenders, most notably former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, have pushed for the kind of direct government intervention long anathema to Republicans. And while most continue to sound their party's traditional call for new and deeper tax cuts, they face wide agreement among economists and policymakers that lowering taxes is too slow-acting to help now.
Underlying the GOP candidates' problem is an apparent change in what Americans want from the government and therefore what voters expect from the next president: vigorous action to rescue the economy from a possible recession.
"What you're seeing these Republican candidates wrestling with is reflective of a sea change in public attitudes toward government and what government should do for people," said Neil Newhouse, a partner with the GOP polling firm Public Opinion Strategies. After Republicans won control of Congress in 1994, polls found that strong majorities favored the idea of shrinking government's role in the nation's affairs, he said, whereas now a large majority wants more government action.
Like the Republicans, Democratic presidential hopefuls have scrambled to respond to voters' concern; but Democrats have long advocated government action to deal with economic problems.
Among the leading GOP contenders, Romney has been the most sweeping in his response to the public's desire for government action. While campaigning in Michigan, he promised to take steps to restore the deeply troubled auto industry.
Along with tax cuts, a rollback in auto emissions standards, and other industry relief, he promised major new federal support for auto-related research. Rivals immediately labeled it a $100-billion promise to the auto industry.
