The American Spectator

Feature

Sorting It Out

By W. James Antle, III from the December 2008-January 2009 issue

(Page 2 of 8)

Second, the Republican brand--reduced to ashes by the Bush administration and wasteful spenders in Congress--has to be rebuilt from the ground up. The foundation of conservative principles--smaller government, reduced spending, strong defense, and protection of individual liberties--is still there. If they choose to rebuild on it, and reject the mantra of “compassionate conservatism”--a quiet form of liberalism--they can succeed quickly. We will lead them back from the wilderness. If only they will follow.

It’s 1974 again, people. We have a lot of work to do.

Jed Babbin is the editor of Human Events.

Michael Barone

You can’t win ’em all. None of us wants to live in a country where one party wins all the time. But no one wants his party to lose, either. And for most conservatives, the Republicans will remain their party, however inept and exasperating its leaders. So what should conservatives think after their party has gotten licked? A few thoughts.

One. This wasn’t--quite--a Democratic blowout. Barack Obama’s margin was unambiguous but not overwhelming, less than George H. W. Bush’s in 1988. Democrats have fallen short of 60 seats in the Senate. Their gains in the House look to be less than Charlie Cook, Stuart Rothenberg, and Larry Sabato forecast. Given the fundamentals--party ID, direction of the nation, president’s job approval, edges in money, organization, and enthusiasm--Democrats reasonably hoped for more. The numbers look a lot like 2006. There are a lot of stubborn Republican voters out there.

Two. The election returns suggest that Obama has built a top-and-bottom coalition. The highly educated and urban affluent on the one hand; blacks and (despite John McCain’s stand on immigration) Latinos on the other. Yes, I know, it’s a little more complicated: some grad school graduates are modest-income teachers and social workers (imbued with all sorts of bad ideas from their grad schools), and some blacks and Latinos are affluent while even those who are not can make their way around in and up our society (see Obama, Barack). I think there’s something unstable about a top-and-bottom coalition. Not because its members’ economic interests are in conflict (the Leonard Bernsteins don’t mind paying high taxes) but because its politicians tend to support policies that don’t work. Example: New York in the decades after Bernstein’s famous party for the Black Panthers. Obama’s policies to tax high earners more to hire more government employees will sooner or later provide ground for complaint.

Three. Conservatives need to look ahead, not behind. Ronald Reagan and William F. Buckley Jr. are dead. The America and the world they did so much to change for the better has changed. Conservative principles are still valid, but issues always need reframing. Meanwhile, the Obama administration will give us new things to oppose and--maybe--new things to support.

Four. Conservatives have two new champions, with the demotic touch the Republican party always needs: Sarah Palin and Joe Wurzelbacher. The 2012 ticket? Four years ago, Barack Obama was a state senator.

Michael Barone is a senior writer for U.S. News & World Report and principal co-author of The Almanac of American Politics.

Jim Burnley

Having grown up in the South during the last years of segregation, I believe that Senator Obama’s election is a remarkable, and positive, commentary on how far we have come as a nation over the last 50 years. Unfortunately, the first African American president may also turn out to be our most radical president.

Although he skillfully portrayed himself as a tax cutter during the campaign, even getting to Senator McCain's right on health care-related taxes, he also signaled his belief that the tax code should be an instrument to redistribute wealth. From his opposition to any restrictions on abortion, to his declared intention to use a cap-and-trade system to outlaw new coal plants, and to his support for changes in labor laws to expedite the rapid reunionization of the private sector work force, he underscored his standing as the most liberal member of the Senate.

Letter to the Editor