STOP BLAMING REAGAN: That’s the title of a column on the American Spectator by Donald Devine regarding the factional eruptions on the Right. Devine, for whom I worked as a Reagan political appointee at the Office of Personnel Management, makes a VIP point about Reagan:

“But blaming today’s problems on Ronald Reagan, as many New Rightists do, does not make sense. This old academic agrees that Republicans and many conservative organizations became part of the problem. But for Reagan himself, his prosperity lasted well beyond his two terms so that a following Democratic president conceded that the ‘era of big government was over.’ This lasted 40 years, with Reagan-type conservative opposition remaining through this period. But it was not primarily by politicians but by popular media leaders like Rush Limbaugh and Robert Novak, in think tanks and activist organizations, and even by some intellectuals.”

The two Bush presidencies are the real villains in this story because there is a mostly straight line from them to Barack Obama, according to Devine:

“If a scapegoat is necessary, it is the presidents Bush. First, George H.W., who in accepting his presidential nomination, promised a government ‘more compassionate’ than his predecessor’s. Then George W. Bush, who responded to the Great Recession with a plan called ‘Market Stabilization’ and years of almost zero interest rates, rather than market capitalism. George W. also adopted a new entitlement program, waged losing wars, and domestic policies that led to Barack Obama, all of which led to the institutionalization of today’s failures.”

One element Devine doesn’t address is the rise of anti-semitism on the Right. Even so, Devine — who by the way is that rare person who combines proficiencies as a professor, campaign strategist and political manager of bureaucracy — is somebody who could serve effectively as a bridge among key factions, including perhaps those entirely unexpected murmurs of a revival of something like classical liberalism.