Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Sanders, the youngest sitting governor, called for a generational change in leadership while also pushing back against Biden's liberal agenda.

After all the hoopla and 'firsts,' the VP isn't living up to the hype](https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2023/01/20/vice-president-kamala-harris-missing-action/11082485002/) Yet in making this call for a generational change, she also signaled the GOP is ready to move on from Trump, who is 76. [culture war we didn't start, and never wanted to fight](https://www.republicanleader.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/governor-sarah-huckabee-sanders-delivers-republican-address-to-the-nation),” Sanders said. Her focus, however, was on how far left the Democrats have gone with their “woke fantasies” and how this is a threat to our freedom as Americans. “Every day we are told we must partake in their rituals, salute their flags, and worship their false idols. Ron DeSantis’ playbook](https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2023/01/31/desantis-new-college-florida-makeover-conservatism-higher-education/11134278002/). It’s crazy, and it’s wrong." [Dark Brandon shows up at State of the Union, mops the floor with lost Republicans](https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2023/02/08/state-union-biden-deflects-republican-heckling-sarah-huckabee-sanders/11202538002/) The choice is between normal or crazy.' Most of these rebuttals are awkward, stilted and generic. It was Reaganesque.” [Biden didn't deliver the message America needed to hear on unity or economy](https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2023/02/08/biden-state-union-not-message-americans-needed-economy/11203732002/)

From raging against the “woke mob" to belly-aching about left-wing “indoctrination,” the Arkansas governor revealed that the party is still hanging its hat ...

But [November’s midterms](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/01/election-denial-american-democracy), like the two elections before it, suggest that much of the country wants something better, more substantial, and more sane. [gas stoves](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/01/republicans-losing-minds-electric-stove) or [candy](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/01/tucker-carlson-invade-canada) or [fixing AR-15 pins to their lapels](https://time.com/6253690/ar-15-pins-congress/), they’re not exactly leading with “courage”; they’re coddling their most unhinged members, or sucking up to Trump, or undermining democracy. [warning](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/02/george-santos-kevin-mccarthy-joe-biden-state-of-the-union) that members should steer clear of “childish games” and outbursts. On the occasions they do enter policy debates, they can only gesture at an actual position, as we saw in Kevin McCarthy’s [stand-off with Biden](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/01/republicans-debt-ceiling-negotiations) over the debt-ceiling. But the thing that sets this iteration of the GOP apart is how little it has beyond that negativity and spin. This kind of negativity and spin is part of politics, of course. “But today, our freedom is under attack, and the America we love is in danger.” We will lead with courage and do what’s right, not what’s politically correct or convenient.” And when they aren’t freaking out about Gripes about the use of “Latinx?” Check. At worst, it makes plain that the GOP simply doesn’t have any other answers—that this is the absolute best the party can do right now. Belly-aching about kids being “indoctrinated” by the left?

Biden's speech offered plenty of opportunity to present a counter-narrative to continued taxes and spending. Instead Sanders went a different direction.

Ron DeSantis, who is broadly popular in his state and a likely 2024 presidential candidate, has [turned](https://reason.com/podcast/2023/02/06/ron-desantis-misguided-war-on-woke/) this ethos into a [series](https://reason.com/2022/09/27/for-florida-gov-ron-desantis-political-stunts-are-more-important-than-substance/) of punitive steps against disfavored groups and companies. Paul Ryan (R–Wisc.), chairman of the House Budget Committee, delivered the [response](https://www.agri-pulse.com/articles/923-rep-paul-ryan-s-response-to-obama-s-state-of-the-union-address-jan-25-2011) to President Obama's State of the Union. This conservative fixation [may or may not](https://reason.com/2021/11/03/its-still-the-economy-stupid-not-critical-race-theory-or-trans-bathrooms/) be of any consequence to most voters. [noted](https://twitter.com/jdickerson/status/1623331547288899585?s=20&t=1hRfDEiI_XbD6x2ydlPEqQ), the last time a Democratic president had a new Republican House majority occurred in 2011, when Rep. After the president delivers a comprehensive address to Congress from the House chamber, a rival politician must try to match the pageantry in a fraction of the time against a more austere backdrop. But it can also offer the opportunity to draw a direct contrast to the president's agenda.