NEWT GINGRICH: GOOD NEWT, BAD NEWT

(6 of 6)

The Moses from Marietta has pieced together a set of political ideas to offer a hopeful if hazy vision of the future and to provide conservatives with an agenda that is not simply the opposite number of their opponents'. But his chief accomplishment thus far is the destruction of the status quo. That may be the limit of his historic role. Every movement of ideas must have a human face, a person in whose integrity and wisdom people can believe sufficiently to overlook the risks and the inconsistencies contained in the new ideology.

For an increasing number of Americans, Newt Gingrich does not inspire confidence as the chosen leader to drive radicalized conservative ideals toward a new way of governing. In a new TIME/CNN poll of adult Americans, 60% of those surveyed said Gingrich is not "someone you can trust," and 49% said he is "scary." It may be that Gingrich will end up like Moses, the prophet who delivered his people to the promised land but was not allowed to join them there.

--Reported by Dan Goodgame/Washington, Richard Lacayo/New York and Sylvester Monroe/Los Angeles