Republicans long have chafed under criticism from President Obama and the Democrats that they are "the party of no." What their new campaign blueprint shows is that, if they take control of the House, Republicans will become "the party of stop."
At its heart, the "Pledge to America" represents a promise to stop Obama in his tracks - stop the stimulus, stop the financial bailout program, repeal and (try to) replace the health-care law, stop other spending and stop the proposed repeal of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
GOP leaders hope their pledge will show voters they have plenty of ideas of their own. Like the "Contract With America" that Republicans under Newt Gingrich issued 16 years ago, the pledge is designed not only to give candidates concrete proposals to include in campaign ads this fall but also to help them hit the ground running if the GOP becomes the majority party.
The pledge is a political document in the guise of a governing agenda. If there are any real surprises in the blueprint for conservative government, they come in the form of pulled punches rather than new initiatives.
The document is filled with rhetorical flourishes that echo that language heard for the past year or more from tea party activists around the country. Its opening paragraphs bow to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and describe Washington, D.C., much the way colonialists once described King George III.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/23/AR2010092302709_pf.html