Conservatives must wake up each morning ready to do battle with a
"secular left" who believe the American people have an impractical value
system. This "secular left" thinks the ideals that have built our
nation - devotion to God, traditional family and American nationalism -
are outdated.
We must engage them in the public square and in the media. We must
engage them in the chambers of city councils and in the halls of
Congress. Because if we lose the fight, they will erode the foundation
of our great nation.
That was the gist of a conservation I had with former House Speaker Newt
Gingrich right before an event he hosted for me during my gubernatorial
election campaign. It was early October 2006 and the political climate
in Ohio and across the nation was poisonous for Republicans.
Gingrich knew I was in an uphill battle, but he still came to Ohio.
Gingrich was committed to campaigning for conservative candidates who
would join him in fighting the "secular left." It really didn't matter
if the candidates were in a position to pull off victories. It only
mattered that they stood for traditional American values and were
engaged in advancing the conservative cause. He was laying the ground
work for the retaking of the cultural and spiritual debate from the left
and bringing it back to the right of center. That's where he thinks the
country is.
In that context, it's striking to see how badly the mainstream media and
most political pundits missed the crucial point of Gingrich's recent
conversation with Focus on the Family's Dr. James Dobson. The media
focused on his admission of an affair. They obsessed about his
confessed "mistake." They delighted in his confession, "There are
times that I have fallen short of my own standards. There's certainly
times when I've fallen short of God's standards."
But with those words, Gingrich took a great step towards restoring his
public and political reputation. The courage of his confession
demonstrated he has found the humility necessary to lead this great
nation.
Gingrich has cast himself as an imperfect man who seeks God's perfecting
grace and as an American leader who understands the underpinnings of
American greatness. And he seems to understand the essence of John
Adams' belief that, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and
religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any
other."
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