Newt Gingrich enjoys contemplating his own world-historic
importance. The House Select Committee on Ethics released a series
of his notes and doodles from the years leading up to the
Republican takeover of Congress in 1994. His chickenscratch can be
hard to make out at times but it is revealing.
These documents make it clear Gingrich did not think of
his eminent Speakership in normal terms. One of the notes is
labeled “Gingrich — Primary Mission,” and it has six bullet points
for how he sees his role going forward. The missional Gingrich is
an “advocate”; “definer”; and “teacher of the rules of
civilization.” He will be an “arouser of those who form
civilization” as well as an “organizer of the pro-civilization
activists.” Suggested cheer for those activists: What do we want?
Civilization! When do we want it? Thousands of years from
now!
In conclusion, Gingrich wrote, he sees himself as the
“leader (possibly) of the civilizing forces.” His parenthetical
caution should not be mistaken for a note of humility. Rather it
was simply an acknowledgement of the contingency of history. Maybe
he’d get his shot, maybe he wouldn’t.
The currents of history pulled against his ambitions for
more than a decade. Gingrich resigned his Speakership in 1998 after
his party nearly lost its majority in the House of Representatives,
and Gingrich called his colleagues “cannibals” on the way out the
door. He did not stand for public office again until
now.
Gingrich used his wilderness years to do a couple of
things. He exploited his government connections to enrich himself
— pocketing, for instance, $1.6 million from Freddie Mac in
consulting fees — and he built up a large following among
conservatives as a wonk-celebrity and Fox News talking head. When
he flirted with running for president in 2008, throngs of
grassroots conservatives mobbed his speeches. As he came into the
auditorium at CPAC that year, the energy level in the room rose to
11.
Perhaps that cheering is why he soldiers on now in his
Quixotic quest to get the Republican nomination. Or perhaps the
Napoleonic Gingrich that we see in those notes from the early
nineties, conveniently collected by Slate
here, is the real deal. Deciding that question would require
deeper psychoanalysis of the man than we have space for here, but
still, you have to wonder at the man’s state of mind.
It is very obvious at this point that Gingrich’s run for
the presidency has wounded him politically and professionally, yet
he continues to shrug it off publicly. The mass staff exodus, the
revelations about his personal life, the refusal of grassroots
conservatives to embrace him as the conservative challenger to Mitt
Romney; all of these things would force most normal people to pack
it in by now, but not Newt.
Gingrich’s doggedness in the face of political irrelevancy
reminds me an awful lot of left-wing activist and hated liberal
villain of the 2000 election Ralph Nader. Indeed, I think it’s
possible that Newt Gingrich’s vaunted Place in History may well be
as the Ralph Nader of the right.
The analogy isn’t exact. Gingrich isn’t promising to go
third party. But his presence in the race kept Republicans from
rallying around Rick Santorum or some other conservative challenger
to Romney. At this point, even if Gingrich dropped out, Romney’s
delegate lead is likely too great for Santorum to
overcome.
Conservatives may forgive him for this if the Republican
beats President Obama. A rising tide lifts a lot of champagne
glasses, after all. But what happens if Romney loses and Gingrich
catches the blame for that as well? The former Speaker is working
to make that happen. He has expressed an interest in taking it all
the way to the GOP convention, denying Romney the nomination on the
first ballot, and engaging in a little direct democracy.
Maybe he’ll blink. Or maybe Obama will prove beatable in
November, in spite of all the GOP infighting. But if Obama is sworn
in for a second term, Newt Gingrich will become a very hated man on
the right — just the latest loser in their clash of
civilizations.
