Communication Is The Key

On Tuesday night, history was made as President Barack Obama addressed the joint houses of Congress for the first time. I, however, didn’t watch the President’s speech at all. People tend to not enjoy my company whenever Obama speaks, because I always seem to feel an inexplicable urge to respond to every statement that he makes.

Truthfully, I was much more interested in watching Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana deliver the Republican response to President Obama. Gov. Jindal is an amazing conservative who has completely turned around the state of Louisiana. Considering that many consider Gov. Jindal to be a “rising star’ in the GOP, I was very interested to see how he would fare in his first prime time speech.

I was pretty disappointed. Although the substance in his speech was good, Gov. Jindal appeared to be uncomfortable reading from a teleprompter. I also think that his delivery didn’t encourage anyone to actually take seriously what he was saying. In short, he came across as too nice. In Gov. Jindal’s case, for him to be taken seriously as a speaker, he needs to come across as more determined and aggressive than he was on Tuesday night.

The most influential figures in politics are always able to communicate a message effectively. Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and now Barack Obama have all proven this. For Republicans to take back the White House in 2012, we need someone who is capable of communicating the conservative message strongly and effectively. In my view, the only person who can currently do that is Mike Huckabee.

It is way too early to endorse a candidate for 2012, however, if all the “potential” Republican candidates were to announce today, I would have to again endorse Mike Huckabee. I’m not writing off anyone, but if Bobby Jindal and Sarah Palin intend to elevate their political careers any further, they need to specialize their messages, so that voters in primary states will take them seriously. I think that Govs. Jindal and palin are both great public servants, but if they are the best and brightest that we can offer, then they better improve on their communication skills.

The New Chairman

About a week ago, I was extremely excited to learn that Maryland’s own Michael Steele was elected as the new chairman of the Republican National Committee. I am excited because I believe that Mr. Steele has all of the qualities that the present circumstances require of the new RNC Chairman.

A couple of months ago, I endorsed Newt Gingrich as my first choice to be the next RNC Chairman; In doing so, I outlined a few qualities that I believed that the RNC’s new chairman should have. I said that our next chairman should be able to go toe to toe with President Obama, and be able to offer a clear ideological alternative to his policies.

Michael Steele can do that and more. In choosing Michael Steele as their new leader, the Republican Party has chosen an excellent communicator of conservative principles, and someone who is personally invested in winning the war of ideas against liberalism.

I believe that the time is ripe for a conservative resurgence in the Republican Party. After 8 years of abandoning our principles, we as a party have finally been humbled to the point where we can accomplish some real lesson learning.  Under Chairman Steele, we can expect a resurgence of conservative ideas that will help us win a middle class majority of American Voters.

Congratulations and thanks to Chairman Steele, for finally bringing real change to the Republican Party.

Where Do We Go From Here?

The Republican Party obviously really lost on every level on Tuesday. However, In the midst of all the political pity that I’ve been feeling, I think it’s important to get beyond the inevitable political demoralization that conservatives are feeling, and start looking at the real consequences of this election, and where we are to go from here as conservatives.

Of all the places to find it, my first post election inspiration came from Ralph Nader. At the National Press Club on Wednesday, Mr. “Full-Time Citizen” rightfully pointed out that no political party is the real loser in this election. The real losers, according to Mr. Nader, are the American people. (He then proceeded to ruin this profound moment by spewing his usual socialist, anti- capitalism jargon, but that’s besides the point.)

Mr. Nader’s words, when applied to a conservative ideology, are very true. Republicans have lost nothing compared to what the American people have lost. In the next 2-4 years, the American people will feel the burden of electing someone with an extremely liberal ideology to the highest office in the land. Steven M. Nielson at The New Conservative had a great post about what to expect in the new socialist administration.

Mr. Nader, (Who actually managed to say two profound things in one day.), also pointed out that there are two kinds of people who react to failed elections. Firstly, there are those who react to political failure with a recessive trait. These people allow themselves to be demoralized by failure, which leads to a compromise in principle, which in turn will ensure continued failure. Secondly, there are those who react to political failure with a civic trait. These people realize that their failings had nothing to do with their message, but rather in the way that their message was delivered.

In order to rebuild the Republican Party, we must return to the principles that we improved America with in the 1980’s and in 1994. The media seems to think that the only effective way for Republicans to regain power is to shift farther to the left ideologically. This is completely wrong. As Barry Goldwater pointed out, conservatives faced the same problem in 1960.

“We are daily cosigned by “enlightened” commentators to political oblivion: Conservatism, we are told, is out of date. The charge is preposterous and we ought boldly to say so. The laws of God, and of nature, have no dateline. The principles on which the Conservative political position is based have been established by a process that has nothing to do with social, economic, and political landscape that changes from decade to decade and from century to century. These principles are derived from the nature of man, and from the truths that God has revealed about His creation. Circumstances do change. So do the problems that are shaped by circumstances. But the principles that govern the solution of the problems do not. To suggest that the Conservative philosophy is out of date is akin to saying that the Golden Rule, or the Ten Commandments or Aristotle’s Politics are out of date. The Conservative approach is nothing more or less than an attempt to apply the wisdom and experience and the revealed truths of the past to the problems of today. The challenge is not to find new or different truths, but to learn how to apply established truths to the problems of the contemporary world.”

We ought to realize that the American people are attracted to authenticity, that’s why Reagan was the only successful Republican president in the last 50 years.  Reagan didn’t feel the need to shift to the left, and we shouldn’t either.  In the words of Mike Huckabee, “We will never compromise our principles for anyone else’s politics.” Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.