CAL: I visited the annual Conservative Political Action Conference gathering last week. Seeing so many beautiful conservatives in one place is seductive.
BOB: You must be referring to the women in attendance. "Beautiful conservatives" is an oxymoron.
CAL: I'm talking political seduction when one is surrounded by people who share identical political views. It can make you believe a majority holds similar views.
BOB: CPAC has long been a political "fashion show" at which potential Republican presidential candidates walk a "runaway" while the crowd gawks at their ideological style and then makes a judgment. How did they rate?
CAL: The struggle in the Republican Party for years has been between ideological purists and pragmatists. As Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said, they've tried the pragmatists — John McCain, Mitt Romney, Bob Dole — and lost those presidential elections. The purists say the establishment has had its chance.
BOB: Who emerged as the strongest candidate?
CAL: Sen. Rand Paul "won" the straw poll, but past winners have gone nowhere. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie partially redeemed himself from his embrace of President Obama during Superstorm Sandy by delivering a red-meat speech criticizing the president. Then he delivered a reality check: "We've got to start talking about what we're for and not what we're against." Sen. Marco Rubio did well. They all brought something. The question is: Who can unite the party?
BOB: None of those. I love the annual CPAC convention and only wish it would last a month. It gets lots of attention, but people see a group of far right politicians trying to out-right one another. The rhetoric scares Americans because it is so far removed from the thinking of mainstream voters who are key to electing a president.
CAL: You have a point. My new book, What Works: Common Sense Solutions for a Stronger America, proposes an examination of every federal program and agency. If it is not performing, eliminate it or reduce its budget or, if feasible, turn it over to the private sector. This would get politicians off the ideological track and onto the "does it work?" track.
BOB: So you agree that CPAC rhetoric is heavy on far right ideology and Obama bashing, and decidedly short on solutions to the problems facing the country.
CAL: Yes, but it was no worse than a gathering of liberal Democrats. In 1981, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., observed after the election of Ronald Reagan and the recapturing of a Senate majority by Republicans that "the GOP has become a party of ideas." There are no new ideas. There are only old ideas that worked or didn't. That's what Republicans should focus on if they want to regain the Senate in the fall and the White House in 2016.
BOB: There are certainly old ideas that worked as you have suggested, but there are new problems never envisioned before. Cyber warfare and privacy issues rising from the Internet are two that come to mind.
CAL: Yes, but the Constitution can still guide us. Republicans can be principled while appealing to swing voters.
BOB: The problem is that conservatives and the Republican Party are seen by much of the public as the "anti-Obama with no alternatives" party. Got any ideas to change that?
CAL: Yes, on the contentious social issues, rather than an agenda of stopping all abortions, Republicans should highlight pregnancy centers that help women deliver their babies and push for mandatory sonograms before abortions. Republicans should also focus on shoring up heterosexual marriages. Divorce has harmed children more than same-sex marriage.
BOB: Those are mostly social issue examples, some of which I support, but there are big issues like immigration, the role of the U.S. in foreign wars and serious entitlement reform. Did anyone who could realistically be president propose solutions and not just spew anti-Obama sound bites?
CAL: Not really. That will come as a leader emerges. It's still too early to predict who that will be, but from what I heard at CPAC, Republicans have a deeper bench than Democrats. If Hillary Clinton doesn't run, who's left?
BOB: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, among others.
Cal Thomas is a conservative columnist. Bob Beckel is a liberal Democratic strategist. But as longtime friends, they can often find common ground on issues that lawmakers in Washington cannot.