Follow in Ronald Reagan's footsteps

The French call it l'esprit d'escalier, or the "staircase wit": the clever comeback you think up just after leaving the room. My worst case came after an appearance on "Troop Talk Radio," a now-defunct show in which a former Army captain distributes right-wing talking points to soldiers. In this case it was: "Stay the course in Iraq." I was on to argue against the proposition.

The reason I go on right-wing radio as often as possible–though it's not often possible, because most conservative hosts are too cowardly to host liberals—is to attempt to break the conservative spell. What I mean is that conservatism, to keep its hold over the more low-information among its grassroots followers, relies on what the Christian right calls "worldview": the idea that proper ideology provides an unbroken chain, a seamless garment, an un-chinked, and un-chinkable wall against error. (Chris Hayes brilliantly analyzed the notion here). It's one of conservatism's political strengths—we all know that. It arms people with an existential certitude. But it's also an inherently brittle certitude, prone to cracking if one link in the chain is exposed. My strategy is to fixate on a single link, work it over—and plant a doubt that might someday, in how ever many listeners, weaken the worldview.

A crucial link in the chain of the low-information conservative worldview is the Myth of Saint Ronnie: that there is at least one conservative hero who did no wrong. And here is where my radio esprit d'escalier struck. My host offhandedly recommended his listeners visit early and often some right-wing web site that held firm to a "Reaganite foreign policy." Then, it being the end of our allotted time, he politely gave me uninterrupted leave to offer any final thoughts.

What I said was something like: "Thanks for having me."

What I should have said was: "You mentioned we should pursue a 'Reaganite foreign policy.' I don't necessarily disagree. When Ronald Reagan faced the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut in 1983 that killed 299 military personnel, he knew it was time to redeploy. He was wise enough to realize you can't win someone else's religious civil war. I think that's what he'd be telling us now when it comes to Iraq."

One or the other link cracks: maybe, just maybe, Ronnie wasn't a conservative saint; or that, since Ronnie can't do any wrong, "stay the course" may just not be the answer to every strategic question.

I've been re-running that tape in my mind ever since. I thought of it again when I read this latest effusion from Mr. Kristol:

[A]ll honor to George W. Bush for following in Reagan's footsteps, grasping the nettle, and confronting the real lessons and consequences of Vietnam. The liberal media and the PC academics are horrified. All the better.

Democratic spokesmen, repeat after me: Reagan was smart enough to get us out of someone else's religious civil war before the damage became too great to bear. Why doesn't Bush follow in Reagan's true footsteps?

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