A Deadly Right-Cross

 http://www.newsweek.com/id/214253

Jon Meacham of Newsweek
interviews Sam Tanenhaus, editor of the New York Times Book Review and the paper's "Week in Review" section, who has authored a book called "The Death of Conservatism."

It is an interesting interview. Tanenhaus is obviously sympathetic to the ideals of conservatism as it was rebirthed by Buckley in the 1960s. It is interesting that he chose to write this book upon the election of a (then) popular left-wing President (Obama).

Tanenhaus would seem to be joining the ranks of disaffected "thinking man's conservatives" like David Frum in decrying a lot of aspects of the Right's current political and cultural reality. Here's a quotation from the interview that will give some of the flavor of it:

"The function of conservatives is not to meet every liberal program or scheme with a denunciation or a destructive counterscheme, but rather to weigh its advantages and defects, supporting the first and challenging the second."

Such a quotation might have come out of Barack Obama's mouth, except that he probably would have said "we" instead of "conservatives."

I will say this--unlike Mr. Obama these days, Tanenhaus seems to be aware what party he belongs to and what it needs. It appears that conservatism in this country may be on the verge of "wising up," at least to the point that it can seriously critique Obama-style government. Heck, you don't have to be a conservative to critique Obama-style government--these days it's easy to do from the Left as well.