Dan

Calabrese

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November 17, 2008

The Right Way to Be the Loyal Opposition

Few statements gave away more than Howard Dean’s 2004 admonishment of his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination – that they needed to get control of their sniping because it was wrong for them to regard each other as the enemy:

“The enemy is George Bush.”

Truer words were never spoken. Throughout the presidency of George W. Bush, with a brief and probably phony respite just after 9/11, the Democratic Party regarded the president as the enemy – much more so than Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden or any other foe of America. They transparently hoped for his policies to fail so they could blame him and take political advantage.

Conservatives, even those who had many problems of their own with Bush’s policies, rightly expressed outrage to see Democrats seeming to embrace even the demise of the nation itself if it meant Bush would be the first to take the fall. And conservatives were sure that, placed in the same position, we would never behave in such a manner.

Well.

Two months from Barack Obama’s inauguration as our 44^th president, conservatives are in soul-searching mode, trying to define just how the loyal opposition is supposed to conduct itself when a left-wing president and a left-wing Congress stand ready to re-make the nation in the image of FDR and LBJ on steroids, with the foreign policy toughness of Jimmy Carter thrown in for good measure.

Loyal opposition? Who came up with that expression? It was probably the same people who named the band Quiet Riot. They rocked, but you could get one hell of a headache if you listened to them very long. Perhaps we’re entering the Tylenol Era for American conservatives.

But how conservatives play the role of loyal opposition will play a large role in their hoped-for revival on the American political scene. A majority of American voters want Obama to be a successful president. Do we? No, do we really?

“No!” comes the honest answer. “Not if successful means imposing socialist economic policies, weakening our military and foolishly deferring to the United Nations and other feckless international organizations.”

So, loyal opposition, we’ve identified where the opposition aspect applies. That, of course, was the easy part. When Obama tries to do any of the above, conservatives will try to prevent it from happening, as they should.

The loyal part is harder, but just as mandatory. Unless you’re the type of fan who roots for your team to lose in the hope that the coach will get fired, conservatives presumably want their country to experience prosperity, security and well-being during the next four years. How do we play a role in making that happen, especially in the first two years, when we won’t have the power to do anything but maybe sustain filibusters?

If we want the best for our country, and we want to earn back the voters’ trust, here are a few easy ways to exercise loyalty even as we oppose bad policies:

• Respect the president. Not just the office of the president, but President Obama as well. That doesn’t mean we don’t criticize him. It doesn’t even mean we don’t satirize or lampoon him. What fun would that be? But we can speak of him the way you speak of a friend you regard as a good guy, but with whom you have any number of disagreements. I argued vociferously that Obama should not be president. I didn’t get my way. I plan to afford him my respect. He will be my president.

• Give Obama credit when he does something right. Case in point: He is starting to send some Bill Cosby-type messages in the direction of the black community. If this becomes a theme of his presidency, conservatives should be the first to applaud him.

• Celebrate when something goes well, and don’t try to bring about problems. Conservatives were rightly appalled that the left refused to acknowledge good news from Iraq, and constantly tried to talk down the economy. It’s one thing to disagree with a decision. It’s another thing to do everything in your power to ensure the decision results in disaster. The loyal opposition hopes for the nation’s success and is glad when it happens.

• Most importantly, conservatives need to offer their own positive vision for America’s present and future, and offer these ideas to President Obama. He may not embrace them, but then again, Bill Clinton embraced welfare reform, free trade and balanced budgets. You never know until you try.

Opposition is the easy part. Loyalty is hard when you’re out of power. But conservatives won’t earn their way back into the nation’s good graces, let alone serve the nation, if they don’t figure out a way to do both.

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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