John LeBoutillier
Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2000

But equally inevitable are two soon-to-come political minefields: an energized, angry Left and a potentially unhappy Right.

The Left is obviously furious not only that their man, Al Gore, lost but that a conservative-dominated, divided Supreme Court stopped the vote counting that showed Gore catching up (true or not, this will be the ‘Grassy Knoll’ of the leftists’ conspiracy theories about how Bush stole this election).

If you doubt this leftist anger, just reverse the story and ask how you’d feel. Suppose a Republican/conservative candidate had it taken away by a Florida system that would not count votes from Republican counties. What would our reaction be? Fury, outrage and a dedication that in the next election we would come back even harder and hungrier to make up for this loss.

So, to begin, President Bush will face a united, furious and mad Left.

At the same time he will be told by the media and self-elected political experts that he "must govern from the center." What that means I do not know. But it sounds like a prescription for disaster to me.

His father tried this – reaching out to Speaker Jim Wright – and he ended up losing the presidency because of it.

What this president cannot do is take the Right for granted. He cannot place himself smack dab in the political spectrum and think that will work. Yes, he can make deals with moderates. But at no time should he move from the conservative positions that really twice put him back in the race.

First, after blowing it in New Hampshire by running an issues-less (centrist) campaign, he rallied in South Carolina by moving to the right. It worked. The conservatives saved his bacon.

Then, this past fall, when he was falling behind Gore, he changed his ‘Compassionate Conservatism’ approach – dropping it, actually – and campaigned like a traditional conservative: railing against increased federal spending and spending the surplus. His best line in the debates was something like, "I can’t compete with the vice president when it comes to spending.”

W cannot repeat his father’s mistake of taking the Right for granted.

That attitude brought forth Pat Buchanan and then Ross Perot.

The result? Bill Clinton won.

W needs to sound centrist, but rule as a true conservative.

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