Political Strategy Lessons for Conservatives

Having listened to various conservative-minded commentators, various opinions are coming out on how Obama’s instincts in the choices he makes should be perceived. Listening to Rush Limbaugh, it’s obvious that he doesn’t trust Obama’s instincts. Limbaugh would argue that he’s studied the man, he knows leftists, and he believes that Obama is a leftist through and through.

The leftist instinct is to do just about everything you want to do, regardless of public opinion or opposition. That instinct is also to go after one’s opponents relentlessly. I think that could be said of how the Clintons operated politically. George W. Bush’s instincts seemed to be just the opposite, reaching out in every possible way, and of course, getting burned by his opponents and the media, and now he is being lambasted in the short-term by conservatives too, as they look back on his presidency!

It is clear that the present economic situation is tied strongly to past Democrat policies and blunders, but they will hang this like an anvil around Bush’s presidency. In fact, as Obama presses for a new “bailout” package, the Democrats will do what they can to push this as an add-on to the bailout of Bush’s tenure. This will happen, especially if it fails, which regarding the evidence of the first “bailout” package, it likely won’t work.

Another conservative, Bill Bennett had a different opinion regarding Obama’s instincts. He believes that Obama has conservative-minded tendencies. I think Bennett’s point would be, in order for Obama to continue to win he will have to do a number of “conservative” things, that is if he wants to be a “two-termer.” Bennett suggested this morning that Obama does actually have some conservative instincts, otherwise he wouldn’t have made it this far politically.

My thought is, until we see what he does, I have my doubts. More likely, because the conservative vote is needed to win, liberals in the media and in politics will spin liberal policies as “conservative” and talk about a more bi-partisan effort in congress. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid will talk about how their efforts are far more bi-partisan than past Republican congresses, when in fact, they will most certainly be more democratically partisan.

Conservatives who want to win will have to be genuinely conservative in their approach to all policies, while taking on a more liberal-mindset in just one area: they’ll have to do like liberals do, and go out and crush their opponents, defeating them and their ideas decisively. They must not worry so much about working with the Democrats, but providing a strong alternative to foolish Democrat policies. They must relentlessly go after liberalism, and forget bipartisanship.

Conservatives must also remember that the mainstream media is essentially in the left-hand pocket of Democrat politicians. They should not trust the media either to get their message out, or to portray them in a positive light. They must therefore spotlight media foolishness and hypocrisy when possible, and when asked to do interviews decline when they believe they won’t get a fair shake, instead going to a variety of alternative media sources where they will get a fairer shot at sharing their message. –Cal Samuel August, copyright 2009. All rights reserved.