E. J. Dionne: Obama: The Conservative In 2012!

Obama, the conservative in 2012: At a moment when the nation wonders whether politicians can agree on anything, here is something that unites the Republican presidential candidates, and all of them with President Obama: Everyone agrees that the 2012 election will be a turning point involving one of the most momentous choices in American history. True, candidates and columnists regularly cast the impending election as the most important ever. Campaigning last week in Pella, Iowa, Republican Rick Santorum acknowledged as much, but he insisted that this time, the choice really was that fundamental. "The debate," he said, "is about who we are." Speaking not far away in Mount Pleasant, Newt Gingrich went even further, and was more specific. "This is the most important election since 1860," he said, "because there's such a dramatic difference between the best food-stamp president in history, and the best paycheck candidate." Thus did Gingrich combine historic sweep with a cheap and inaccurate attack. Nonetheless, it says a great deal that Gingrich chose to reach all the way back to the election that helped spark the Civil War.