Mitch Daniels in Washington: For a Return to Compassionate Conservatism, Against “Shock and Awe Statism”, Rebuffs Prez Speculation

Mitch Daniels doesn't stand still for long.

On Monday, he outlined his ideas for a new state budget.

On Tuesday, he set a date for the special session to hammer out that budget.

On Wednesday, he was in Washington D.C. speaking about his ideas for a revival of the Republican Party.

Among them was a return to empathy, you might call it Compassionate Conservatism 2.0:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, a potential 2012 presidential candidate, said Wednesday that his fellow Republicans need to work harder to show "empathy" if they want to emerge from the political doldrums.

Daniels also called those on the left of the political spectrum "the meanest people in politics."

Conservatives have lampooned President Barack Obama for using "empathy" to describe one of the qualities he seeks in a potential Supreme Court justice. But Daniels said "empathy" is spot on — Obama's just misappropriated the word.

"Empathy is going to get a bad name for a little while because it's been transported into the world of the rule of law," Daniels told a forum for conservatives. "It's what distinguishes us from other species."

Republicans, he said, "must not only assert but assert with credibility that we understand what's going on in the lives of everyday people."

Daniels spoke at "Making Conservatism Credible Again," a forum hosted by the Hudson Institute and the Bradley Foundation. Daniels used to work at the Hudson Institute.

The second-term governor said conservatives would have to bide their time but that push-back on Obama and Democratic leadership is coming. In the meantime, the governor said, conservatives needed to practice humility.

"We don't have to believe we have all the answers," he said.

Still, Daniels said he saw reason to be optimistic. Many voters motivated by the historic nature of Obama's campaign cast their ballots as a sort of "fashion statement," he said, and will come to regret their decision when Obama's policies are enacted.

Conservatives can use their time out of power to distinguish themselves from their opponents' time in the wilderness, Daniels said.

"We need to accept the role of the loyal opposition much more gracefully than our opponents did," he said. "If you haven't noticed, the meanest people in politics are on the American left. We must be a friendly movement."

I heartily agree with the need to be happy warriors in the opposition, rather than become mindlessly enraged as the Democrats and the left did with Bush Derangement Syndrome.

Mitch also slammed the Obama administration's policies as "shock and awe statism," a very fitting term:

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) hammered the Obama administration Wednesday for failing to rein in “terrifying” federal deficits.

“We’re all stunned and concerned by what I’ve come to think of as the shock-and-awe statism that we’ve experienced just really within the last few months,” Daniels said at a Washington symposium hosted by the Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal. “As I see it, there’s what one might call an audacious endeavor to overwhelm the defenses of freedom and free institutions before they have a chance to regroup and organize themselves.”

Daniels’ 2008 reelection victory over former Democratic Rep. Jill Long Thompson was one of few bright spots for the GOP last November. Prior to winning the first of his two terms as governor in 2004, Daniels served as director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Successful GOP candidates must go beyond saying no to Democratic proposals and instead offer alternative policy solutions of their own, he said.

“In our state we are, as I always define it, the party of purpose,” Daniels said. “We try to never be without an idea on the table; we try to never be without a major change under way.”

To succeed, Daniels said, conservatives should move past partisan labels and avoid falling back on ideological justifications for policy. Rather, lawmakers should look for pragmatic solutions to everyday problems and trust that voters’ best interests align with conservative philosophy.

“I don’t use the D- and the R-word. I don’t use the L- and the C-word,” Daniels said. “I don’t talk about liberals and conservatives. An idea or would-be movement is only as good as the answers and, potentially, the results that it produces.”

The Indiana governor quashed speculation that he is mulling a run for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, saying he would follow a pledge made in his final campaign ad of 2008, in which he promised he would not seek higher office.

“I’m not a seasoned office-holder,” he said. “I’ve only ever run for or held one office, and it’s the last one I’m going to hold.”

And, there at the end, he again repeated that he's not interested in running for President. It was a statement and sentiment quoted and conveyed more fully in the Indianapolis Star's piece on Daniels' speech:

WASHINGTON -- Conservatism will become credible again if it's forward-looking, constructive and friendly and connects with the lives of everyday people, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels told a conservative audience Wednesday.

But conservatives will have to be patient because the public wants it to spend some time in the penalty box.

"Our fellow citizens will eventually say, `All right, we'll listen. Did you learn anything? Did you hear us? Do you have any new, good ideas for us?'" Daniels said. "And if we do, and we will, I have every confidence that freedom and those who expose it cannot be kept down for long."

Daniels spoke at forum sponsored in part by the Hudson Institute, a think tank Daniels used to head.

His talk came amid a recent spate of national attention for Daniels that has included a profile in the National Review, an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal and his delivering the weekly radio address for the national Republican Party.

Daniels, however, said he's still shy about telling his party what to do and has "ducked a lot of opportunities to mouth off."

"I don't think I have anything profound to say," he said, "and I'm kind of busy."

Yes, Mitch is very busy.

This post has come full circle; scroll back up to the top and look at Mitch's schedule for the week if you don't think he's been going at a fast and furious pace.

But Mitch has also clearly been busy in other ways, and some of that has involved taking--not ducking--opportunities "to mouth off" as he puts it.

He gave the GOP weekly radio address.

He got himself a cover article in National Review.

He has written a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

He has gotten a lot of pundit buzz.

He has now visited Washington to speak about the future of the party.

Four things in a fewer number of weeks. Those are the actions of a man that is busy, but also a man that's--to use his own term--"mouthing off," and more power to him.

I may not agree with Mitch on everything--sometimes very vocally disagree, in fact--and I've naysayed quite a bit about his presidential chances, but on many issues he's a more thoughtful and capable leader than virtually anyone in the current GOP. There's a thoughtful Hoosier sensibility and pragmatism in Mitch Daniels that the national GOP needs to regain just as much as it needs to find its ideological soul again.

And this party badly needs such individuals to lead it, whether they want to run for president or not.