I think Rush was dead on. Elections in America are not ordinarily won; they are lost. Without Jimmy Carter there would have been no Ronald Reagan, however great his ideas. Obama is president because Bush was a mediocre manager and a grossly ineffective communicator who had difficulty correcting his mistakes and was completely unable to seize credit for his successes. Even then, McCain was ahead when the market tanked. Like Katrina, the market drop was not really Bush’s fault, of course, but that makes no difference in the real world.
If the economy recovers during Obama’s tenure and we avoid catastrophe in foreign affairs, whether by the brilliance of his policies or by (in my opinion his only hope) blind luck, conservatives will remain on the sidelines however brilliant their policies may be.
But if the Obama administration fails, as it very likely will, their only hope to retain power will be to convince people the Republicans are even worse. They know this, and have only accelerated the demonization of conservatives since they acquired power.
You don’t fight demonization with wonky stuff. You fight it with noble rhetoric and good, solid American philosophy. This is what Rush is doing. And this is exactly the path that will make conservatives the acceptable alternative when the One falls on his face.
We do need sound policies, not to win, but to govern well after winning.
