Outside View: Looking for a leader in CPAC

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Since 1975, when a former California governor named Ronald Reagan attended the Conservative Political Action Conference to argue that the movement needed to speak in "bold colors rather than pale pastels," CPAC has been a must stop for most anyone who wanted to be president of the United States.

The cattle call of potential presidential candidates generally -- George W. Bush being the notable exception -- finds it a place where they can road test ideas and find support for their candidacies. Not so in 2010, however, given that several possible candidates who, it must be assumed, are running for the nomination from the right -- former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, for example, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie -- skipped the conference entirely.

Their decisions not to attend alters the landscape, rendering, for example, the much publicized CPAC straw poll as a poor predictor of the race's eventual outcome. It's hard to evaluate the power of Palin's or Christie's message among the grassroots when neither bothered to show up to deliver it.

Nevertheless there were some surprises.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who says he isn't running, gave a strongly conservative address focused on the need to limit the power of the federal government, a favorite theme of many conference attendees this year.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who appears to have gone out of his way to pick fights with both economic and cultural conservatives, also gave a persuasive speech laying out a specific platform to bring federal spending back under control.

Neither, however, was able to break out of the pack in the straw poll, which was won by Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney -- a former straw poll winner -- in second place.

The lack of excitement, the lack of buzz about any one candidate in particular wasn't only due to the fact that only part of the field that showed up. It is also true, as one CPAC delegate said privately, that the wannabes "all said the same things."

Whether this reflects a lack of communications skills or, worse, a lack of ideas, this uniformly uninspiring field can't bode well for conservatives in 2012. After all, in the minds of most conference attendees, the problems to be addressed -- and the solutions that are called for -- are already well-defined.

What is required is the leadership to take them off the page and make them reality. No one among the presidential contenders who spoke at the conference either managed to convey to the delegates that they possessed the kind of leadership qualities necessary to manage the heavy-lifting necessary to get American back on track, or didn't suffer from some personal or political blot on their record that ruled them out of the race.

It isn't so much that there is a leadership vacuum as it is that no one has yet done enough or said enough to inspire a flowing, a la Reagan in 1976 or, more importantly, 1980. Events, at home as well as abroad, are likely to help move that along for a few of the candidates while at the same time winnowing the field.

And yet, the same was not true for the non-presidential candidates. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.; Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.,; House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis.; and freshman Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., all of these drew the most praise from attendees parched for leadership.

These folks, who all must make the machinery of government work along conservative lines over the next 18 months, had plans and put forward imagery that made advocates for the center-right political viewpoint excited and optimistic about the future. They have plans and they have ideas about how to set things right.

The test for the men and women who want to be president is how seamlessly they can take the best of those ideas, the best ideas from all quarters and blend them into their own messages -- creating and building a movement for reform and change that can carry them all the way to the White House.

Then again, if they hope to avoid a repeat of 2008, perhaps conservatives should demand that the GOP's presidential field bring more to the table than personal ambition and the ability to mimic applause lines from committed public servants.

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(Sam Dealey is former editor of The Washington Times.)

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(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)