Past 100 days have been rough for GOP as it seeks message

WASHINGTON -- They have searched for direction and hunted for leadership, but what Republicans ultimately hope to find is the strategy that can counter a popular Democratic president.

As President Obama rounds his first 100 days in office this week, many Republicans acknowledge they have endured a rocky transition to life without control of the White House. But upcoming debates in Congress on health care and climate change could provide the GOP with an opportunity to reinvent itself as a taxpayer advocate.

And that, some in the party say, could be the strategy Republicans are seeking.

"The party still has major challenges, obviously," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has emerged as a leading Obama critic since losing the election to him last year. "I think we're starting to come out of the defeat that we suffered in 2008. ... We are making some small inroads."

Republican leaders have used Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus plan and proposed $3.6 trillion budget to portray the president as a tax-and-spend liberal whose policies will saddle future generations with debt. "We can't continue to spend and borrow at the rate that we're going," House Minority Leader John Boehner said last week.

Republican lawmakers are directing similar pocketbook criticism at proposals to overhaul the nation's health care system and revamp energy policy to reduce carbon emissions. Republicans caution both plans could cost families money during the economic downturn.

The message appears to be working. Asked to name the worst thing Obama has done as president, three in 10 named big spending and bailout plans in a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll last week.

Hammering away at Obama also carries risks, the same poll showed. More than half — 56% — said Republicans have not made a sincere effort to work with him.

"If you had to give a title to the past 100 days, it's 'finding their feet,' " Jack Pitney, a government professor at Claremont McKenna College in California, said of the Republicans. "They're struggling up. They're not on the mat, but they're not in full punching stance, either."