Kathleen Parker November 12, 2013

In spite of everything — the GOP’s internal scrimmages, thegovernment shutdown, the party’s transparent attempts to derailObamacare — Republicans keep getting second chances.

The question is, can they handle prosperity? Do they even know what to do with it?

With the myriad problems besieging Obamacare, from the non-rollout to the minuscule number of enrollees in the health-insurance exchanges, this is no time for gloating.Rather, it is time for Republicans to get very, very busy with their own ideas for across-the-board reforms.

The party of “no” must become the party of “we can, too!” This doesn’t mean sacrificingcore principles, though some could use a little shelf time. It does mean picking battles Republicans can win and avoiding skirmishes thatfurther alienate centrists and minorities.

Forget building alarger tent, which increasingly looks like a pup for two white guys and a flashlight. Ditch the tent and build a coliseum. Install Doric columns, if you like, and grab an obelisk on your way to redemption. At no extra cost, here’s an inscription for the keystone: Waste not, want less. Waste not this moment; want less than perfection and aim for the possible.

This was always House Speaker John Boehner’s battle plan, but he finally concluded that leading his conference where it wanted to go was preferable to inciting a civil war. In a recent interview,Boehner told me that he thinks at least some of thebetter-death-than-compromise caucus had come around to understandingthat attaching Obamacare to the continuing resolution, resulting in thegovernment shutdown, was the wrong tactic.

Even so, “at leastsome” may not be enough. And who knows what Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) hasup his sleeve as new deadlines loom for budget and debt-ceilingnegotiations early next year?

In the meantime, House and SenateRepublicans have a small window, while Obamacare is hugging the shoals,to show why their ideas are best. Americans frustrated with Congress and disappointed by the president are primed for someone to pick up thebullhorn and say, “We hear you.”

It’s too bad “compassionateconservatism” has become tarnished because compassion is what is neededin today’s GOP playbook: compassion for the hungry whose food stamps House Republicans excised from the farm bill; compassion for 11 million immigrants who are prisoners in illegal limbo; compassion for gays, lesbians and others seeking protection against workplace discrimination.

These are not such difficult choices in the scheme of things. How toguarantee that Iran can’t weaponize its nuclear capability? That’stough. Not so tough: helping the poor feed their families; finding apath for citizenship along with other immigration reforms; extendingequal protections to individuals whose sexual orientation should not be a firing offense.

The Senate also has passed a comprehensiveimmigration bill with the help of 14 Republicans that contains arelatively strenuous path to citizenship that includes paying back taxes and fines, and getting in line behind others seeking citizenship.Hardly a giveaway. Even so, some Republicans aren’t on board with thepath to citizenship. Although Boehner told me he hopes to get animmigration bill to the House floor next year, others say 2014’s midterm elections make this unlikely.

Phooey.

What’s really notlikely to happen is a Republican White House — ever — without Latinovoters. There’s only so much Republicans can accomplish when theycontrol only half of one-third of government. Consider that the biggeststates with the largest concentrations of Hispanics — Florida,California, Texas and New York — also convey 151 of the 270 electoralvotes needed to be elected president.

Appealing to Latinosdoesn’t mean Republicans have to pander or bow to President Obama’swishes. It means doing the right thing. Even though a slim majority ofAmericans (53 percent) thinks most immigrants here illegally should be deported, according to a Reuters/Ipsos online survey last February, a more recent NBC/WallStreet Journal poll found that 65 percent favors a path to citizenship if it requires essentially what the Senate bill proposes.

The draconian option of deportation would be an unlovely sight. Not onlywould families be torn asunder but also America’s crops would wither onthe vine, as they did in Alabama after that state’s crackdown prompted a sudden, mass exodus. Yet again, unyielding principle prevailed over common sense and survival.

Time is of the essence if Republicans hope to refresh their image in thepublic square. Picking battles wisely, acting compassionately, creatingrather than negating is the only way forward. Jar the hardwoods,campers; there’s daylight in the swamp.