Great Warfighers Learn Much From Their Opponents

As a young Armor Lieutenant in the US Army, we often discussed the tactics of the great Desert Fox- Field Marshall Erwin Rommel.

For those of you not familiar with Rommel, he was arguably the most formidable opponent the Allies faced in World War II. He was in charge of the 5 and 15 Panzer divisions. He held Axis terrain in North Africa, Libya specifically, and kept it under their control in the face of Allied blockages, supply shortages, and overwhelming forces. He led the enemy to believe his forces were far larger than they were, raided enemy supply lines and used them to sustain his troops, and He was a brilliant tactician and maneuver warfare students in the US military still read about him today. Rommel is a legend- even today.

So, where do we as conservatives go from here? I think we have much to study about how the opposition candidate won- and to learn from it. We should as a party adopt the same tactics... community organizing, raising private funds, and finding a common enemy to unite against.

Who should the common enemy be? In the last election, it was Bush. It could be argued that the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader in the Senate should be targeted and to use the election as a referendum on their policies. I know- that is straight out of Saul Alinsky's rules for radicals... but if the shoe fits- wear it. It seems a little too much Tsun Tzu, but it is a direction we'll have to go if we want to win.

I think the Republicans lost their "community" organizers- the Evangelical Christians. Yes, I'm referring to the base. When conservatives unhinged themselves from the base under media pressure, it spelled less voters. Less voters meant less of a chance to win. Remember, the Obama campaign started running two years before the election. John McCain really started running back in March as his campaign gained speed. McCain would have been the better president. Unfortunately, his inability to get his message out and his decision to stick to his principle on staying with public financing cost him a lot of air time and impressions on people.

Not to get too far off topic, but the staff of the McCain camp may have perhaps benefited from a non-disclosure agreement. The current media storm about how Sarah cost John the election is being fed by some staffers. Bad idea- staffers should NEVER fight in front of the kids (the American public). You'd think that with the number of military officers who were involved in the campaign this would have been obvious. Leaders never fight in front of those they lead- it is disastrous because it breeds contempt among the troops. Yet another military lesson in leadership.

I'd like to see taxes, the deficit, earmarks, and big government being moved center stage. All of which has been brought to us by the Pelosi-Reid alliance. We are just now seeing a glimpse into the future with a tax cut that seems to help less and less Americans weekly, banks being forced to take bail-out dollars, and talk of the fairness doctrine.

Regardless, I hope the post-mortem on Campaign '08 gets people together within the GOP. People from the party were calling the election a loss before it happened. Not good. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy. This sort of behavior need to stop. Now is the time to build the vision, start engaging those who can make it happen, and to celebrate hope- the hope for a return to true conservatism and classic party ideals.

Let the brand campaign begin...