Back in the 3rd week of 1993, the same week as Bill Clinton's
first inagural, National Review sponsored a Conservative Summit
in D.C. I attended was quite invigorated by the gig which
featured a wide selection of the leading conservative pols,
writers and thinkers at that time. Republicans had been
laid low and like today found themselves rejected by the voters
and out of power everywhere. To a certain degree the
gathering was therapeutic as it ofered the chance to clear out
some of the dead wood and offer up fresh faces and voices.
Newt Gingrich, not mcuh removed from backbencher status gave the
most compelling speech from my perspective. Looking back
now I can't believe that anyone in the audience would have dared
dream at tat time that he would be Speaker of the House in two
short years. As we ponder circumstances today, perhaps this
is another similar opportunity for rebirth. In my opinion
the GOP is best understood as a party with two wings - the
Rockefeller/Business Roundtable wing and the
Entrepreneurial/Growth wing. Alas the Bushes for all the
wildcat talk are at heart oldline Rockefeller Republicans
(witness their cabinet selections from the business roundtable)
the wing that inevitably drags the party to minority
status. It is the entrepreneurial wing that focuses on
small and start-up business and wealth creation that carries the
ideas, energy and enthusiasm necessary to obtain and maintain
majority status. The party's primary task today is to
dislodge much of the deadwood that was not already cleared out
yesterday and find the new faces and voices that can bring the
entrepreneurial wing back to prominence. McCain's lasting
legacy may well be his elevation of Sarah Palin as one of those
entrepreneurial leaders.
