down in front

"My theme is the intellectual decline of conservatism, and it is notable that the policies of the new conservatism are powered largely by emotion and religion and have for the most part weak intellectual groundings. That the policies are weak in conception, have largely failed in execution, and are political flops is therefore unsurprising. The major blows to conservatism, culminating in the election and programs of Obama, have been fourfold: the failure of military force to achieve U.S. foreign policy objectives; the inanity of trying to substitute will for intellect, as in the denial of global warming, the use of religious criteria in the selection of public officials, the neglect of management and expertise in government; a continued preoccupation with abortion; and fiscal incontinence in the form of massive budget deficits, the Medicare drug plan, excessive foreign borrowing, and asset-price inflation." richard posner.

posner is dead-on here. what's more is he's a moderate conservative speaking from amidst the ruins of the republican party, echoing something i said several weeks ago: that the republican party is now mostly composed of extreme social conservatives & their ilk & a few others(hello, john mccain)who think that clinging to the extremist's support is the only way out of the woods. this is why they've been so flat footed in coming up w/ANY kind of response to the country's various crises. these folks don't have the economic or global chops to do anything but give a thumbs down on any solutions. the alternative of coming up w/an intellectual response to the dems isn't on the table because they're not capable of it. on top of that, the purge of "moderate" republicans is now taking place on the local(that's in bobo & grady level)political levels. life-long republicans, republicans in good standing, who are actually running the local operations(re: grassroots)of the party are being told to toe the limbaugh line or get the hell out.

i don't remember the democrats ever being this confused or self-destructive. i mean, the circular firing squad was originated describing the democrats but this is another animal altogether. i think obama's lack of gaffes, or missteps, has had quite an impact on the republicans. clinton's first few months were definitely not as smooth & carter's were, well, kind of forgettable. obama's political instincts of knowing how hard it is to hit a moving target have really proven to be key. he's hit the ground running & hasn't stopped but, more importantly, he's addressed difficult issues, taken responsibility, & been charming & good spirited throughout.

everytime obama takes a hard issue head-on(the race speech during the campaign, abortion at nortre dame, the middle east problem in cairo), it reminds me just how w/o leadership this country was for eight years. i can't be alone in seeing that. the folks at fox just gawk at their monitors & mutter things like, "can you believe it, they're actually clapping for him?" they don't seem able to conceive of an american president being liked outside of his "base support," say, in other countries w/differing values & religions & concerns. as cheney(& his mini-me daughter)continues to insist on the efficacy of his torture policy & the good ol' hard line, it's become clearer & clearer that dubya really was a puppet president & the idea of the "leader of the free world," or more precisely, that power was usurped & reduced to secrecy, lawlessness, & machiavellian conspiracy by cowards.

i think seeing how petty & venal & evil the republican party was when they were in power is the most disillusioning aspect of all this but it also explains most easily why they're so petty & venal OUT of power. a political party is only as good as the people who comprise its membership. until the republicans understand that, i think they're going to be down so long it'll start to look like up to them.