American President Wins Peace Prize, Bombs Moon in Celebration

President Obama won an anticipatory Nobel Peace Prize

American liberals are celebrating because "The World" loves us again.

Jennifer Rubin throws a bucket of cold water on that notion:

No, it’s a bad thing, a very bad thing, because he got it — as one must to snag a Nobel Peace Prize — by denigrating American values and exceptionialism, demonstrating an aversion to moral clarity, refusing to call out despotic regimes (the Iranian students will be thrilled to know that they give prizes to leaders who think of them as an annoyance), disarming America, repeatedly distorting history to fit false narratives, refusing to stand up to international bullies (excuse me, members in good standing in the international community), and spinning a great deal of hooey about global wealth-sharing and environmental extremism.

And here’s the thing: these regimes don’t like America any more than they used to. They love a U.S. president who shares their disdain for America’s role in the world. So they gave him a prize. “America Isn’t That Great” Man of the Year isn’t something to cheer. Well, unless you work at the White House.

I also like Peggy Noonan's observation that this may give our international superstar president pause:

Assuming the White House did nothing to encourage or lobby for the award, it is not Barack Obama's fault that he has been embarrassed by this honor. And it may possibly hold for him an unanticipated benefit. It may give him pause:

"Look what idiots my biggest international supporters are. I may have to rethink a few things."

GOP Mojo

How does the GOP get its mojo back? By staking out core conservative principles, not watering them down, and attracting people to the cause rather than repelling them.

Two things stood out from two articles I read a few Saturdays ago. Peggy Noonan (I know, she's a Sarah-hating snob, but bear with me) said the following about President-elect Obama saving Senator Lieberman's chairmanship:

Politics is a game of addition, take the long view, don't throw anyone out...

Mark Sanford is a successful GOP governor I admire. He once turned a pig loose in the South Carolina Statehouse to chastise the state's pork barrel spending legislators. He has the following advice for the GOP:

I believe Republicans and conservatives must agree on our core principles. St. Augustine called for ‘unity in the essentials, diversity in the nonessentials, and charity in all things,’ and while I believe there should always be a big GOP tent, there must also be a shared agreement on the essentials.

Peggy Noonan's comment highlights a mathematical fact: The GOP cannot win another national election without expanding the 2008 voter base. You win elections by attracting people to your cause. Torch-carrying pogroms expelling the infidels from the party may be the path to emotional self-satisfaction, but it spells ruin for a political movement.

So the key lies in agreeing on core principles (the essentials) and expelling politicians who violate them, while tolerating a diversity of thought on the non-essentials, all the while being civil, optimistic and charitable towards those we disagree with.