Republicans Need a Leader--And An Enemy

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

Interesting question from a nationalreview.com online columnist:

Having undergone training by students of Saul Alinsky, President Obama knows the value of a good enemy. By stirring up fear and hatred toward a key figure on the other side of the battlefield, Alinsky taught, organizers can fill their war chests and rally their troops. In the 1990s, the Democrats' designated demon was Newt Gingrich. For the past several years, they counted on President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

Now that Bush and Cheney are out of power, who is next?

But to writer John Pitney I would pose the following: who is the leader of the GOP reform movement, where is the GOP going and who will be its next enemy? The GOP, in disarray, trounced at the polls last year and without obvious leadership or direction, is in much greater need of an enemy than the Democratic Party. President Obama's supporters will not tolerate the treatment the Right visited on its last great enemy: former President Bill Clinton, if vented on President Obama. So instead of asking whom the Democrats will target next, if I were a conservative I'd be much more concerned about the future of my own shell of a partisan fellowship.

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