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Or at least that's the Washington/Virginia coffee shop I'm guessing Michael Gerson reacts so schizophrenically to in his Post column this morning. The author of "compassionate conservatism" is at turns horrified and bemused by the atmosphere at Busboys, whose name alludes to D.C. poet Langston Hughes, who was discovered as a writer while working as a busboy in the city. Noting the Che Guevara Reader for sale, and then telling us that Cameron Diaz carries a Mao handbag, Gerson quickly pivots into equating naively Communist-nostalgic pop culture with the views of the national Democratic Party. Classic! But then Gerson actually makes a great point:
But there also should be concerns on the right. On its current track, the emotional branding of the Republican Party among the young will soon be similar to Metamucil. The party's emphasis on spending restraint and limited government may be substantively important, but these themes are hardly morally inspiring. And the Iraq war is a serious drawback among younger voters -- except, of course, among those 20-somethings with buzz cuts who actually fight the war. Appealing to cause-oriented consumers will require addressing issues such as global poverty and disease, global warming, and economic and racial justice. This reality of the market is also a reality of American politics.I'm not holding my breath waiting for the GOP to embrace "economic and racial justice" or put ending global warming on their platform. Who would? That's why Gerson, although fun to read, strikes me as such a sad character -- a Christian evangelical who just can't gel his conscience with that of the modern conservative movement. "The most complicated question is why, as a rather serious-minded conservative, I am often found in bohemian coffeehouses, comfortable among the revolutionaries," he asks himself. Hmmm. Gerson... maybe you're... shhhh... not a Republican.--Dana Goldstein
