Johan Goldberg on the Return of Republican Enthusiasm

Johan Goldberg has a great editorial for the New York Post on how the Republican party base regained enthusiasm. I can only hope to be as creative in my writing but Goldberg really nailed this one, in my opinion. Go read the whole thing but some of the more notable parts are highlighted here. First, a little on why people were disenchanted within the Republican party:

Larry Craig from the flinty Republican state of Idaho, was caught, legs akimbo, using sign language in a men's room to signal to a stall mate that he's a huge fan of Ang Lee's films.

The press and Hollywood have spent the last three years making it sound like people become Republicans so they can flood New Orleans, ruin the economy, torture Muslims, listen to everyone's phone calls, and make a ton from selling papier maché bulletproof vests to the troops.

That last paragraph is killer. I'd like to say it is exaggerated but sadly that would be untruthful. Goldberg on why things turned around:

First, America is very close to flat out winning in Iraq. This shouldn't be a partisan data point, but it is, and Republicans are starting to hold their chins high, thanks to the success of the surge, which, far more than the war, was an almost purely Republican initiative.

Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have managed to drive Congress' approval ratings to near absolute zero. Also, if you don't actually think Barack Obama is a higher life form, listening to the press talk like Princess Leia for a year - "Help us Obama Wan Kenobi, you're our only hope!" - can get really old. Republicans feel a lot like Elaine in that Seinfeld episode where she was the only person in the world who didn't understand why everyone fawned over "The English Patient."

Obama Wan Kenobi. Why didn't I think of that? Brilliant.

I'll suggest again that you read the whole article. What impressed me the most was that Goldberg took several years of history, years of media bias, a turbulent month of political change, and key poll results and somehow summarized it all in a short, funny yet informative editorial. Blog posts on each of the issues numbered in the thousands--only a political junkie would be able to sift through that mountain of material. Goldberg managed to boil it all down to something quickly digestible. Color me impressed. (And OK, slightly envious.)