If his Marxism becomes the dominant theme of his presidency, and if it is enabled through converting the Democratic Party into a giant community organizing machine along Saul Alinsky lines, conservatism may well be dead. Therefore, our strategy must be to peel the center away from him, not the left whose psychology is probably immune to our logic and certainly to our entreaties.
It may be okay in a very short term basis, as you suggest, to engage in a little two-step dance to try to separate Obama from some of his extreme left-wing base. But there are dangers in this course. The first is that it promotes an implicit endorsement of his centerleft policies which affirms his legitimacy and makes our ultimate job of seducing away the center only more difficult. Another problem with that strategy is that it tends to reassure the middle that Obama has no truck with the extreme leftists with which we conservatives have been trying to taint him.
I quite agree that mindless attacks on Obama are counterproductive. We must have the right timing, the right issue, and the right spokesman. Right now we have none of these. I think we have to start with finding the right spokesman who should emerge as someone who can energize the party and articulate the three legs of the conservative school, fiscal conservatism, strong defense, and social conservatism, which is acceptable to all flavors of conservatives. He who can unite the party will no doubt be possessed of the forensic skills necessary to carry the fight to the enemy. Rather than praise Obama, I think our job is to articulate our own principles and let the public see whether they are compatible with Obama's positions. As the public begins to learn they like our principles, and that Obama does not, the middle will begin to emerge from its national neurosis.
Meanwhile, we must get busy with a sense of urgency like the country experienced after Pearl Harbor to reorganize, rearm, and prepare ourselves to wage 21st-century cyber/election warfare.
