Yesterday, I commented on the state of conservative thought, the folks at Culture 11 picked up on it, and Helen Rittelmeyer had this to say:
I don't mean to suggest that ideas don't matter, but I do want to drive home the point that, just as Democrats and Republicans are caught in a cycle of infrastructure envy ("The Right has all the think tanks!" "The Left has all the netroots!"), we're also caught in a cyclical pattern of thinking that the other side has all the fresh ideas. If this mistaken line of thinking leads the Right to engage in lots of ideological soul-searching, then I'm all for it, but let's not pretend that this "Whoever Has the Best ‘Substance' Wins" narrative is any kind of true. Just ask the Left; they spent the last decade at this point on the sine curve, and it wasn't "fresh ideas" that got them past it.
But Rittelmeyer's argument that ideas may not have consequences (funny to hear from a conservative) just isn't right. For my part, I didn't scoff "at the idea that Obama's popularity has anything to do with a revitalization of liberal ideology." I scoffed at the idea that Obama is a hard left ideologue, contra Mark Levin, but he's certainly a liberal. And I do believe that a revitalization of liberal ideas -- I won't say ideology because I don't think most voters are ideologues -- has helped Obama. Ideas about income inequality, the common good, the need for liberal internationalism and diplomacy, the importance of health care -- one of Obama's strongest debate moments was when he said health care is a right -- and the need for a regulated capitalist market all significant factors in Obama's success. It will have implications after the election.
I don't disagree that infrastructure and campaigns matter to the election -- obviously Obama's charisma and political talent played a large role,. and the progressive movement has lifted him up. McCain's campaign has been abysmal. But Obama is winning because his proposals and the way he communicates them resonates with voters. They're right for the times. They may not be "fresh" in the sense that they have never been articulated before, but they are in the sense that they have not been championed effectively in the last few decades. Rittelmeyer thinks Democrats are winning because "the war tanked" -- but the war tanked because it was a bad (conservative) idea. The economy tanked, too, and the deregulation that led to that occurrence was a conservative idea, even when it was championed by Democrats.
-- Tim Fernholz
