As a journalist disposed topositions of the (incoming) loyal opposition, I have a long list ofresolves for 2009.
First, to be fair to the newpresident and his administration. Rescuing political journalism from the deep hole it entered in recent years means that center-right analysts will have to display an honesty that most of the entrenched left in the MSM abandoned in the years of the second Bush term and especially in the election of 2008. President-elect Obama could turn out to be a great president. If that is the case, the center-right has to be willing to mark and applaud his progress, especially as it brings successes in the long war against the Islamist jihadists.
Next, to be blunt and specific about the inevitable failings of the new president and his administration. Taking the oath on
Third, to leave the president’s family alone to the extent they want to be left alone. The First Lady gets to decide if she wants to be part of the political fray or not. If the latter, she should be given the same respect and coverage as Mrs. Bush received. The children should only be covered as their parents want them covered, which may mean not at all.
I resolve to keep covering the war with the Islamists in print and on air. The War Against the West collects all the relevant interviews I conducted with the writers of the most serious books about the war that have issued in the past few years. I resolve to have at least as much material for a companion volume in two more years.
I am also committed to our two programs –near Memorial Day and Veterans Day—on behalf of the Injured Marines Semper Fi Fund, and to radio props for the great work of Soldiers Angles, Fisher House and the United Warriors Survivors Foundation.
I have three books to finish and publish with Townhall this year. The first, GOP 5.0: Republican Renewal Under President Obama will be available shortly, and books on the fair tax and on Christians and politics will follow if I can keep to my writing discipline. I resolve as well to produce at least one new program in the Learning to Love the Great Books series with Professor David Allen White each month of 2009. Mining and recording the wisdom and learning of this magnificent teacher is aproject that will almost certainly outlast all of my others because the subject matter isn’t going to be any less interesting a hundred years hence. Volume one on Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Melville’s Moby Dick and volume two on Cervantes’ Don Quixote and Dickens’ Great Expectations have been so well received that it confirms my suspicion that modern media is missing a huge opportunity to serve people who would like very much to remedy the missed opportunities of their youths.
I intend to master my Kindle and my iPhone, and to continue to figure out how to apply the enormous energy of Twitter to the radio show and conservative political causes. TopConservativesOnTwitter.org is just a start, as is the use search.twitter.com during the program’s airing, which allows listeners using the search term #hhrs to carry on a parallel show featuring their voicesand not just mind and one other caller at a time.
I resolve to attend BlogWorldExpoin
Brian Wesbury, chief economist of the First Trust Portfolios, was the key “new find” among great guests in ’08 and I resolve to keep dragging him back at least weekly to inject common sense into economic forecasting. I also resolve to keep Frank Gaffney front and center as one of the country’s leading voice on the Islamist networks at work around the world.
I resolve to push the National Republican Congressional Committee led by Pete Sessions and the National Republican Senatorial Committee led by John Cornyn to identify early the key races in which the GOP can score pick-ups in2010. Playing defense the past two cycles was awful, and these gentlemen are committed to playing offense. Whoever becomes the new RNC chair will be invited on the program early and often, as will Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, Eric Cantor and Jon Kyl
I resolve to welcome on to the show every live broadcast day the first (and maybe even the second) Congressional Democrat who calls and asks to appear, and any member of the president-elect’s cabinet. Really, any day I am in studio, they are welcome to appear and push their points of view. The program has always been marked by civility towards those with whom I disagree, though the debates are robust. I’d love for elected Dems to join in the conversation.
I resolve to prioritize accepting speaking invitations in cities where Jet Blue flies. I also resolve to prioritize college gigs.
I resolve to help Dennis Prager in his quest to stay cigar free by accepting all such offerings on his behalf at joint appearances.
I resolve to keep working on figuring out a work-out for the Reformation With the likes of Al Mohler, Francis Beckwith and John Mark Reynolds, Archbishop Chaput, Mark D. Roberts and Wayne Grudem all on the same team, there ought to be some serious reconciliation under way in the age of instant and meaningful conversation. If the Christian theological elite combine to work together, my friend Mr. Hitchens doesn’t stand a chance of impeding the work of the Church. (Though of course, he never did.)
And maybe, just maybe, I will see you in the lists for the Orange County Marathon or the Marine Corps Marathon –or both—in 2009.
Happy New Year.
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