Blog Archive

Food for thought from Phillip Klein:

So, the important thing is not whether or not Limbaugh himself can attract moderates to the party (he is not a candidate last I checked), but whether, at some point in the future, a party built on conservative principles can win a majority again. That’s the essence of Rush’s message when you get beyond the theatrics. Republicans have a choice. They can work with Obama and give him bipartisan cover. They can hope to extract token concessions while Obama gets 99 percent of what he wants. They can decide that the era of small government is over, and that the only way to win again is to become the party that makes big government run more efficiently. OR. The Republican Party can return to the limited government principles on which it won landslide victories in 1980, 1984, and 1994 – so that when the Obama administration’s policies fail, Republican candidates can offer a genuine alternative.

The bottom line is that a few years from now, if we’re looking at some variation of high unemployment, tepid growth, and double-digit inflation, moderates will be receptive to a conservative message, and Democratic efforts to portray Republicans as beholden to Limbaugh will fall on deaf ears. And if, for the first time in history, a massive expansion of government leads to an economic boom, then Republicans will be doomed anyway.

While I am much more apt to look for ways to build a center-right coalition than some of my conservative friends, and I don’t even listen to Limbaugh, I think the point here is accurate.  If you can’t oppose the leftism and government power grab of President Obama then you really have given up a whole host of conservative principles and you offer no real choice to voters.

There are times when it gets difficult to decide what is prudent compromise and what is abandoning conservative principles, but now is not one of those times.  Obama is attempting to use his election and the financial crisis to offer The Great Society on steroids.  There is no real middle ground.

Being the opposition offers the real chance at clarity for conservatives and the GOP.  We shouldn’t get distracted arguing about Rush.