Get ready for ALL-NEWT, ALL THE TIME

Conservatives rejoice! Your savior has arrived! Actually, he's been here all along, but the time is ripe, and the Grand Old Party is on its knees. It's time for Candidate Newt Gingrich to lead his party back to prominence.

I can hear the nay-sayers now. "Gingrich!? That Guy? Didn't he shut down the whole federal government because Bill Clinton seated him in the back of Air Force One? Didn't he get bounced from leadership after he couldn't get Clinton removed from office? Didn't he have that whole thing with his ex-wife, serving her divorce papers while she was in the hospital with cancer?"

Yeah, that guy. He's back, and it's his time.

"But how can that be?" you may ask.

Really, it's far too obvious. Let's look at the laundry list of issues for the Republican Party, shall we?

1. Washington--The current Democratic President is very popular. The US Congress is controlled by the Democrats, which may not lead to rubber-stamping of legislative policy, but it does mean that the entire debate agenda is set and dictated by the triumvirate of Obama-Pelosi-Reid. Gone are the debates on flag-burning, immigration, Abortion rights, Welfare cuts, tax breaks, et al. The Democratic (more specifically, the Obama) agenda is health care, infrastructure, unions, education, energy, etc.

While the Democrats control the legislative agenda, and President Obama receives the lion's share of the television and journalistic media coverage, the strategy of the Republicans in Congress has been a miserable failure. Mitch McConnell and John Boehner look terrible on the talk shows and in the media, and Eric Cantor has thus far been less than stellar as the "up and comer" on the scene.

2. Former potential GOP candidates--watching Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee trying to stay relevant in the spotlight has just made us all cringe a little.

3. Republican Governors--The so-called "next generation" of Republican leaders, aka Republican Governors, have been a disappointment as well. Mark Sanford, how's that stimulus money working out? Bobby Jindal, perhaps 2012 is a little early for your entry into national politics. Tim Pawlenty, you're damned if you sign off on Al Franken's certification of victory, and damned if you don't. Sarah Palin? Jeez, do I need to go through the list of shortcomings?

4. Conservative Radio Commentators--If Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Mark Levin didn't already turn 65% of the country's stomachs, this whole "Tea Party" last week certainly didn't help. Fox's unabashed promotion of the event led to a whopping several hundred person march on Washington. In effect, most of the largest "events" across the country were turn outs to see Hannity, Beck, or others from the network, as much as anything else. And the notion that most of the people there were paying too much in taxes is not credible, since on that very day, most of those people saw a tax CUT in their paychecks for the first time in 6 years. Most of America stopped for a minute, scratched their heads, and kept going to work. So much for "going Galt"...

So getting back to my point, it's been a rough time of it for the ole GOP. But the stage is set for a return to prominence for Newt Gingrich. And here's why:

1. Age--Newt will be 69 years old in 2012. If he doesn't get back in the game soon, he will have that "age" albatross thrown around his neck for good. Candidates in their 70's rarely have success at the national level.

2. Media-Savvy--Certainly no one else in the Republican Party seems to have a clue how to talk to the Media. I blame this partly on the rise of Fox News and Conservative Talk Radio. For too long, Republicans have relied on these outlets to provide a media-friendly platform for their positions. Now that they are the minority party, the GOP has had to learn to play on the main-stream media turf, and it has proven to be a tremendous challenge for the current GOP leadership. Not so for Gingrich. Newt is a champion of the debate, and loves to mix it up on shows ranging from ABC This Week, to the Today Show. And he can do it in an intelligent way.

3. Stark policy differences--As long as George Bush was President, Newt had no real reason to be vocal on issues of domestic or foreign policy. As Obama has taken the reigns, and shown what his agenda priorities are, Gingrich has been able to provide a clear point of view about these positions. His next step is articulating a clear alternative.

I think Newt is waiting to see if the other GOP leaders in power can come up with something. But I don't think he'll wait long. I can see Newt coming up with an agenda to rival his "Contract with America" from 1994. If Newt can, I think he'd love to help the Conservatives return to power in the Congress in 2010 and then run for President on the back of that victory, to attempt to unseat Obama in 2012. Given the state of affairs in the GOP, it's not a pipe dream. And if the US Economy continues to sputter, or (heaven forbid) we suffer a set back of some sort in foreign policy, such a scenario could get good odds in Vegas.

Newt can see this too, and I think he will take this opportunity to hit the airwaves with an approach that is uniquely his. All Newt, All the time. Newt the Culture Warrior. Newt the Serious Leader. Newt the Responsible Economist. Newt the Foreign Policy Tough Guy. Can America handle President Newt?

We'll see...