Frum Forum Says Obama Is The Real Primary Winner And Glenn Beck Is Partly To Blame (UPDATED)

David Frum Andrew Pavelyev writing for Frum Forum, the conservative who’s lately made a career of throwing some cold reality on the Republican party is doing it again in the wake of last night’s Tea Party upsets in both Delaware and New York. Today he concludes that the real winner from this year’s midterm primaries (and presumably the actual midterms) is President Obama. Pavelyev explains:

The real action in this election cycle was in the Republican primaries, they are almost over, and we already know who won: (drum roll, please!) President Obama. American conservatives have suffered a crushing and lasting defeat. The center of gravity in American politics has shifted permanently and irreversibly to the left (and conservative ideology will eventually follow).

Who’s to blame for all this? Oh the usual suspects, namely Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck. Interestingly, he apparently has recently come on board to my long ago prediction that Beck is the new Oprah.

The saddest thing is that this conservative calamity is mostly self-inflicted. More and more conservatives get Oprah-cized (one of their favorite leaders, Sarah Palin is sometimes called “the conservative Oprah”, and in my humble opinion Glenn Beck deserves that title too). They now believe that expressing their feelings (e.g. by nominating quixotic candidates) is more important than trying to influence government policies (e.g. by nominating viable candidates). They withdraw from practical politics and instead join a protest movement.

It sounds a bit like Frum is bemoaning the hippieization (chalkboard style!) of the GOP. He predicts it will take decades for the right to recover. Not to rain on his gloom parade, but considering the political whiplash this country has endured in just over two years, I think decades might be slightly overstating the matter.

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