Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Gerson, Bush, Rove — The Eternal Golden Braid   [John Podhoretz]

Jonah and Ramesh, whatever the merits or lack thereof when it comes to "compassionate conservatism," the central point is this: The slogan and the idea were brought into being explicitly to separate Bush from Gingrich-ism, Dole-ism, and what might be called Bork-ism — Gingrich's high-handed arrogance, Dole's dourness and Bob Bork's "America is going to hell in a handbasket" pessimism. Bush probably meant it and means it, but it was primarily an electoral strategy, not a well-developed philosophy. That was proven by the fact that when 2004 rolled around, we didn't hear the slogan at all even though Bush had done all these compass-conserv things in his first term. They weren't going to help him get reelected. In 2004, he needed to do something else to win and he did something else.

We don't yet know what 2008 is going to require of its candidates. My guess, though, is that, as is always the case, Republicans are going to have to go a little mushy to soften their hard edges and Democrats are going to have to play tough to prove they're not wimps afraid of power. 

06/13 03:50 PMShare