Joe Klein: How the GOP Lost Its Way

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How about none of the above? It should be obvious by now that the Bush Administration's attempt to inflate a serious long-term conflict with the forces of radical Islam into a Global War on Terror has been a monumental strategic mistake. But there was little sympathy for figuring out an intelligent way to disengage from Iraq and refocus attention on the broader conflict. My esteemed colleague William Kristol, whose latest column appears on the next page, easily won the crowd with his argument favoring Bush's New Way Forward in Iraq, though not without a few bumps. Kristol, normally an impeccable debater, seemed boggled by this simple question from the audience: "How do we know if we're winning or losing? Whose side are we on in Iraq?" Kristol detoured into the Korean War, then cited the three democratic elections held in Iraq, which were little more than ethnic referendums, and advanced the astonishing notion that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was actually presiding over a "coalition government" rather than acting as beard for the Shi'ite militias. Not very convincing.

The essential conundrum of 21st century conservatism--the notion that smaller government is what conservatives really want--was betrayed in three debates pitting libertarians against traditionalists on issues like immigration, gay marriage and the need for an alternative-energy plan. By my reckoning, the libertarians won none of them. My favorite moment came when Jerry Taylor of the Cato Institute began pacing behind the podium, pulling his chin as he realized that his "let the market decide" rhetoric wasn't going over very well against former CIA Director Jim Woolsey's argument that, as a matter of national security, the U.S. government should support hybrid technology and alternative fuels. Taylor actually proposed that the poverty and dissatisfaction such a policy might cause in places like Saudi Arabia might create more terrorists!

In the end, the conservatives had little to unite them except, as always, lower taxes. "You have to cut taxes whenever you can," Jeb Bush proposed, "or government will grow faster than people's ability to pay for it." Huh? Bush's assumption was Ronald Reagan's: that "government" is part of the problem, not part of the solution. In truth, it is neither: it is the concrete expression of our collective will. And if you want to govern as a responsible conservative, you have to pay for it--especially when you're fighting a global "war."