Hannity: Time for Republicans to chart a new strategy

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," January 4, 2013. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: Tonight I want to close the show with some final thoughts. Now, the Republican Party, they have very serious work to do in 2013 and beyond. My advice is that Republicans approach the New Year and consider how to regain momentum. They need to lift their eyes from day-to-day tactics. It's time now to think strategically.

I have some ideas. Now maybe the first place to start is with the GOP psychology. What I mean by that, there are many Republicans, many conservatives, they've been downcast, sapped of energy, devoid of hope. They can't understand, how did Obama with his indefensible record win re-election by a comfortable margin?

I understand the reason for sagging spirits, but despair and apathy are not options, not in politics, and especially not when our future is hanging in the balance. Republicans now need to take advantage of the fact that with the passage of the "fiscal cliff" deadline, Obama lost his best political leverage. That's an opportunity. Republicans now have the chance to focus attention where it belongs, spending cuts and entitlement reform.

Now, that's the formula that lifted them to their epic 2010 midterm victory. So while Democrats have a political advantage when it comes to raising taxes on those rascally rich people, Republicans now have an advantage when it comes to spending. They just have to make sure they use it the right way. They need to settle on a narrative for Obama, one that's simple, one that resonates with people and one that conforms with reality, and that's devastating because it's going to be true.

Now, once they do that, Republicans should use every weapon in their rhetorical and communications arsenal against the Democrats, against Obama. That's what's known as message discipline. Republicans need to perfect it in the years to come. They need to portray the president as he is, a big huge tax and spend liberal who is committing generational theft. They need to show he's turning America into Greece, bankrupt, dysfunctional and divided.

Next, Republicans should forget about trying to govern, forget it. You can't do that when you control only one branch of the federal government, so forget about trying to reach any grand bargain with Obama. Instead, concentrate on passing your own agenda. Not in the hopes by the way that it will pass, but in order to bring attention to your big ideas. Push that agenda. Make sure it's bold and far-reaching and reform-minded and make sure that it offers a sharp contrast to Obama.

Now, House Republicans should also use a majority status to hold hearings, and need to highlight waste, fraud, abuse that now exists all over the federal government. And maybe sophisticated media types will roll their eyes while ordinary Americans that are paying the bill, they will be rightly outraged when they discover how corrupt this federal government is.

Also, 2013 is the year that ObamaCare begins to take hold in a major way and the effects will be devastating. Higher premiums, the loss of employer-based health insurance, to the involvement in the IRS in your life. It's going to become clear in ways that it never has been before that ObamaCare is a train wreck. Republicans need to do everything in their power to focus attention on what a disaster that is.

Now, lastly, feature these geniuses in the Republican Party, the Republican governors. There are 30 of them in the country right now, by the way, the most of any party in the country in more than a decade. Some of the best minds, the most accomplished reformers in America are Republican governors.

Let's see, we've got Bobby Jindal, Scott Walker, Rick Scott, Bob McDonnell, Susanna Martinez, John Kasich, Rick Perry, Rick Snyder and soon to be gone Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels.

Republican governors by and large are successful, they're popular, creative and for the most part found a way to govern in a very responsible way. So the Republicans in the House and Senate should work very closely with them, should align with them and learn from them.

Now, this list of suggestions is only a partial list of starting points, other smart people will have good ideas as well. The point is, Republicans, at every level they need to take a deep breath, they need to stop being reactive to everything that Obama does and to events, and they should calmly chart out and in a very careful way deliberate a strategy for success.

Now the sad reality, is Obama will fail sooner or later. He has to. Why? He is pursuing bad ideas based on a flawed ideology, and what that means is Republicans need to be ready to go. And there are some ways that they can if they use them right help save America.

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