Conservatives Don't Need "Their Own Obama"

Barack Obama is the most popular politician in the United States. The Republican Party is it's most dire straits since Watergate, so it's probably natural for the media to assume we need a "conservative Obama"-- a great orator, someone who can bring people to their feet in fervent and jubilant ecstasy just by his or her mere whisper. This line of thinking is the wrong track to think on and it's why the criticism being leveled against Gov. Bobby Jindal, whom liberals have suddenly labeled as our one great hope against the jagguarnaut that is Barack Obama in the 2012 election. I have many liberal friends that have expressed to me their admiration of Bobby Jindal, and I am happy to agree-- I think Gov. Jindal is a great guy, he understands conservatism, he's very smart and a big policy-wonk and he's going to be a fantastic presidential candidate one day and probably a great president, but he is no Barack Obama.

Obama was elected on his teleprompter aided oratory skills, grand themes, and the power and that's about it it. Obama is not extraordinary off-prompter. Is he disciplined? Yes. Is he on-message? Absolutely. But he's nothing out of the ordinary. His experience? He was an average state legislator, an average senator, and chances are, if his ill-thought out social programs don't send us to hell and a handbasket, he'll be an average president. Oratory skills only get one so far. Not to mention there were plenty of down right bad presidents and evil leaders who were impressive orartors. While FDR was a great war-time President and deserves a high ranking because of this, he was a terrible domestic-policy president. New Deal programs did not lift us out of the Great Depression, in fact pre-WWII, as infrastructure projects ended President Roosevelt saw unemployment begin to rise again. German Chancellor Adolf Hitler rose to power on his oratory skills, and it became the darkest period of German history. That's not to say Obama is FDR or Hitler, it's to make the point that oratory skills are helpful, but don't automatically make a great president.

I have a sneeking suspicion that Obama has a general idea of where he wants to go, but doesn't have thought-out policies. That's why he handed over the stimulus package to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. He knew he wanted one, he had a general idea of where he wanted to go, but didn't really have a thought out plan on what specific items would be in it or how they would be implented. It's probably going to be a similar situation in regards to Health Care, and entitlement reform, both of which the president highlighted in his quasi-state of the union adresss. Obama's ideas are general, most of his voters believe his policies are "hope" and "change," and he's delegating the drafting and implementation.

Obama is also a poweful symbol: the first African-American president. Someone asked me if GOP Chairman Michael Steele was chosen for the post because he was an African American to stand against Barack Obama. It's a fair charge, but I turned the question around on that person: 2004, 89% of African Americans vote for Kerry, 2008 95% of African Americans vote for Obama, a six point jump. Now, I'm not an African American, so I can't pass judgement on African Americans who voted for Obama because he's black, but there was a portion of African Americans who voted for George W. Bush in 2004 who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 because he's black. Because Obama is a a better symbol. I have a couple of black conservative friends who told me they voted for Obama for that very reason (and they didn't like McCain.)

Conservatism cannot win this way. Conservatism is about ideas and that is the basis on which we are attacked. Do I think attacks on Bobby Jindal are anti-Indian? No, they're anti-conservative. Do I think attacks on Sarah Palin are anti-women? No, they're anti-conservative. Do I think attacks on Michael Steele are anti-black? No, they're anti-conservative. Liberals don't care what color, creed, gender, sexual orientation, nationallity, profession, whatever other group they break themselves into, they hate the message and they'll do whatever it takes to take it down, even destorying the messanger. A "conservative Obama" is impossible because a conservative cannot win like Obama. They just don't have the media backing to be vague like Obama (A conservative will never send a thrill up Chris Matthews' leg for example.)

Conservatives need to be principled, they need to be specific, and they need to show competence. If those three things are in place they have a chance at earning my vote. People like Bobby Jindal, Sarah Palin, and Michael Steele are not perfect, but they have been principled, specific, and competent. If I were Chairman Steele, I would encouage his two leading conservative candidates for the 2012 campaigns around being the anti-Obama.