In the months after 9-11, it became popular to say that the vile events of that day had "changed America forever." A year or so later, as the liberal Democrats could not resist the impulse to snipe at the president, it became clear that not all of America had been changed forever by 9-11. That atrocity, however, left a long-term imprint on Hannity. You can perceive it in his new book, "Deliver Us From Evil." It is an important book.
It is about the reemergence of evil in the modern world. Hannity rightly compares the evil of 9-11 with the sudden ambush of Pearl Harbor. He recounts the feckless efforts of earlier politicians to deal with terrorism and sees terrorism as a long-standing threat to our freedoms. The Clintons get a special section in the hortatory pages of this book, for they did next to nothing to suppress the terrorists, though during the 1990s the terrorists' provocations were bloody and numerous.
Hannity's book is hopeful, though his estimate of the Democratic phonies arrayed against the administration is sobering. If any of the Democratic presidential candidates triumphs over Bush, America is in real trouble. Though, if the Rev. Sharpton were to win the Democratic nomination and then the presidency, the prospects for the Republic are not all that grim. Sharpton could always be removed from office for tax evasion before grave damage was done.
The optimism of Hannity is characteristic of the conservative talks show hosts I have been meeting. They represent a refreshingly positive conservative alternative to the otherwise liberal media. That they have replaced the liberal talk show hosts of a generation past is cause for optimism. Perhaps in the years ahead conservatives will be as numerous in televisionland as they are in radioland.