I was once informed that the only way to gain a clear understanding of a political group or a movement is to hear what one of their die-hard partisans has to say on the subject.
A liberal, even when trying to be objective, will mischaracterize a conservative and vice versa - but let one of a group's very own firebrands take the stage and then you begin to find out what they're really about. Such instances are guaranteed to be entertaining, if not educational, and one occurred very recently at the Conservative Political Action Conference, a meeting of conservative luminaries that parallels the worst excesses of the Chautauqua tent.
Since the Obamanon, the conservative movement has been experiencing a malaise - Sean Hannity has even gone so far as to open his show with the proclamation of "Conservatism in Exile!" Clearly, these lost souls need a leader. So, which firebrand rose to the occasion and gave an impassioned (and more than twice as long as allotted) speech in defense of conservatism?
None other than the current poster-boy of the conservative movement, Rush "The Doper" Limbaugh. The radio personality called out the president during his speech, thundering "President Obama: Your agenda is not new, it's not change and it's not hope." It goes without saying that this remark was well-received. Limbaugh's speech can give some valid insight into the current incarnation of the conservative movement.
For example, an uncomfortable amount of his speech was dedicated to that old pastime of his: self-aggrandizement. He even included a painfully unfunny joke about how God likes to imagine that he's Rush Limbaugh. Additionally, the luminary pointed out to his somewhat jangled audience that he believes President Barack Obama has the power to destroy the conservative movement.
Limbaugh's speech was heavy on criticism and hysterics, but weak on ideas. This, to me, seems to be the primary problem with the current conservative movement. The loss of powers so long enjoyed and so poorly used seems to have unhinged them a bit and reduced today's conservative movement to a histrionic, spiteful gang of children.
There is, undoubtedly, a power vacuum in the conservative movement as it exists and the GOP in general. Gov. Bobby Jindal, it was hoped, would be able to step up to the plate as the Republican answer to Obama, but his speech went over about as well as Limbaugh's draft-dodging at a meeting of the Vietnam Veterans of America. Gov. Sarah Palin, against all logic, is performing well in current polls, but the idea of Palin 2012 is a joke and most conservatives know it. With no one to fill the shoes which are feeling increasingly empty since the days of Reagan, naturally the conservatives are paying some heed to the bold and confident Limbaugh.
They would do well to practice caution, however, as this particular pied piper might very well lead them off a cliff and actually succeed in destroying the movement. For their own sake, conservatives need to hitch their outdated covered wagon to a figure more interested in ideas and less in…well…himself.
And preferably one who has never referred to Obama as a "magic negro."
Eric Chianese is an English junior. His column appears weekly.
