I don’t consider it defeatism that I think this election is all but over. Republicans were never meant to win this one and McCain gave it a good try, but conservatives all need to take a deep breath and get used to President Obama for at least the next 4 years. Click past the jump to read what we need to do now.
First things first: Playing the blame game is not going to help us secure the White House in 2012 or even pick up some seats in 2010. Yes, McCain isn’t a very strong candidate and yes he hasn’t run a great campaign – but McCain was chosen because he was the best of the worst. Does anyone think that Romney’s economic prowess would save him from the anti-Mormon, anti-Wall Street Elite label he carries? Does anyone think that people would look at Mike Huckabee – someone who is whimpier than Obama is on foriegn policy and elect him our commander-in-chief? Fred Thompson would have bored everyone but the grassroots and Giuliani would spur the lowest voter turnout in the evangelical south that we’ve probably ever seen. As far as winning this election, Republicans had a lousy lot to choose from and McCain was the least lousiest of them all. But we knew that going in.
When McCain loses (because he will lose) we’re going to hear a lot of Republicans trying to blame him or his candidacy for the loss. This type of thinking is both wrong and unproductive. We need to coalesce around fixing the damaged Republican image and reminding voters why we need common sense conservatism in Washington.
Enter Sarah Palin. We have a great lot of Republicans coming up through the ranks including Sarah, Bobby Jindal, Mark Sanford and others who inspire confidence in the future image of the GOP. But out of all them, John McCain has helped position Sarah to take the Republican mantle and rebrand it for the future.
(Side note: Sarah Palin is the number one reason that Republicans should leave McCain alone after November 4th. In an election that seemed almost inevitably disastrous, McCain gets full credit for launching her national career.)
Sarah speaks to heartland Americans like no politician has in years. This is what Palin fans have been saying for the last month and a half and it is why Palin critics have come out so quickly in full force. She is a smart conservative who is frighteningly political savvy that has no doggoned problem conving those beer-drinking swing voters that she understands them. This is the case for Sarah that has been made over and over on Palinmania.com and so I won’t say much more.
What’s important here is that the GOP is a badly bruised brand. We’re looked at as corrupt, elite, politicians and it is going to be a hard label to overcome when Obama starts dolling out entitlements. As inspiring and savvy as someone like Bobby Jindal is, we will need someone like Sarah Palin to reconnect with voters who view conservatives as compeltely out of touch.
One day I hope to be writing about a President Jindal or a President Sanford, but that’s not going to happen if a President Palin doesn’t first remind voters which party has their interests at heart. This absolutely has to be the goal of the 2012 presidential campaign – and if it’s not, we might find ourselves thrown into decades of defeat.
[...] Spent day reading poll results and evaluating chances of making it into White House. In case of failure on Nov. 4, have developed back-up plan: Sarah for President, 2012. [...]
In some elections it is better to lose. Herbert Hoover, Gerald Ford and the like from the ashes a phoenix can arise. A people and a party can learn more often in defeat than in victory. Obama may wish he never thought of being President if the next few years turn out a badly as they can. His idealistic anti-war group and the redistributive classes will turn on him when they find his committment to them was only tepid. In the meantime, time may be wisely in fashioning new ideas and burnishing reputations. Sure Sarah is bit rough around the edges and needs to curl up with a good book or two on Karl Popper, David Halberstam, Tuchman and the like to learn more about what you stand for and what the other guy stands for. She has a quality that is more important. She’s got guts and as we say in hockey she is a clutch player. When others would have wilted under the lights she faced them head on. The edges can be refined but the core is in the person and that is something you cannot manufacture. Sarah my thanks.
If Palin runs for President in 2012, at least she has name recognition going for her… but, at this point, that may not work in her favor