Obama Wins the Gold Medal

But what happened was the right was so institutionally successful that it controlled many of the levers, as you say. So, what happened in the year 2000? Well, the conservatives on the Supreme Court stopped the democratic process, put their guy into office.
Sam Tanenhaus Take 1: Obama Is a True Conservative
Barack Obama is "a president who seems more thoroughly steeped in the Burkean principles of 'conservation' and 'correction' than any significant thinker or political figure on the right today."
"Obama's plan to extend health coverage to the nearly fifty million Americans who lack it is pure Disraeli." - Quotes from Week in Review and Book Review editor Sam Tanenhaus's recent book "The Death of Conservatism."

Tanenhaus Take 2: "Conservatives" Aren't Conservative, Actually Radicals
Bill Moyers: So, if you're right about the decline and death of conservatism, who are all those people we see on television?

Sam Tanenhaus: I'm afraid they're radicals....And this is a strong strain in modern conservatism. Like the 19th Century nationalists who wanted to recover parts of their country that foreign nations had invaded and occupied, these radical people on the right, and they include intellectuals and the kinds of personalities we're seeing on television and radio, and also to some extent people marching in the streets, think America has gotten away from them." - From Tanenhaus's appearance on the September 18 edition of Bill Moyers Journal on PBS.


Tanenhaus Take 3: Conspiracy Theory
Tanenhaus: "But what happened was the right was so institutionally successful that it controlled many of the levers, as you say. So, what happened in the year 2000? Well, the conservatives on the Supreme Court stopped the democratic process, put their guy into office." - From Tanenhaus's appearance on the September 18.edition of Bill Moyers Journal on PBS.