Don't Blame Castle for the GOP's Missteps

Conservatives are rightly angry over the GOP's failure to enact conservative reforms during the Bush years. But purging moderates like Mike Castle isn't the answer.

Though some of her elite conservative advocates suggest that stranger things have happened and that Christine O’Donnell stands a shot in the Delaware U.S. Senate election, what they are really arguing is that we would be better off losing the seat than giving it to Castle. These advocates believe the GOP majority was ineffective in promoting serious conservative reforms between 2002 and 2006 because moderates deprived the caucus of the ability to speak with force and direction.  They believe that the failure of conservative leadership on Capitol Hill between 2002 and 2006 resulted from the corrupting call of political power.  Republican congressional leadership, so bent on maintaining its majority status, was compelled to trim policy sails to accommodate the House’s Castles and the Senate’s Snowes.  The result of this effort to appease the liberal-most member of the caucus, lest he switch parties or undermine the perception of leadership as capable of ‘getting something done,’ resulted in a sloppy agenda that did not precisely articulate a conservative policy platform.

The diagnosis is half-correct.  The GOP did squander its chance at significant conservative reforms during the Bush administration.  But don't blame the moderates in Congress. Blame the lack of presidential leadership.

Look at the opposite experience of the Democratic party. The Democratic caucuses contain many blue-dog Democrats less than excited about President Obama's big liberal ideas.  President Obama jammed his policies through anyway.  Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid are no less interested in maintaining majorities and their own leadership positions than were McConnell and Hastert.  But with an assist from a President intent on advancing liberal policy, they were able to corral their moderate members rather than being ridden by them.

Could George W. Bush have achieved equivalent things if he had tried? This is a serious question, one that should impact the strategic decisions of conservative opinion makers.  It is also a question that requires people to behave like grown-ups, behavior that has been lacking in recent days among O’Donnell’s advocates.