By Will McCabe

Barack Obama has yet to take the oath of office of President and already liberal political pundits and Obama sycophants are comparing him to the likes of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

My fellow Conservatives, our future is bright. As Americans we regard greatness in retrospect, as greatness ought to be conferred with historical deliberation. He has been successful at becoming the first black president and his political skills are as impressive as any I have witnessed so far. I wish him luck and to paraphrase Winston Churchill, I hope history will be kind to him because he intends to write it.

But our history has not been written for us. Ask most people about the moral of Aesop's fable, "The Tortoise and the Hare," and you will hear in response, "Slow and steady wins the race."

Poppycock! Balderdash! As a former runner I can attest that slow and steady never beats fast. But that's the point - the hare could have beaten the tortoise had he not rested on his laurels. The focus of the fable is on the hare's shortcomings, not the tortoise's strength. Politics is cyclical and Republicans' status in the minority has more to do with our own shortcomings and squandered opportunities than the strength of the Democrats.

As brilliant as Karl Rove is, it was presumptuous for him to suggest in 2004 a permanent Republican majority. So ignore the yahoos who suggest a permanent minority status. Don't forget - we've got the Governator on our side and "we'll be back!"

Step One - Innovate, don't Moderate. We don't have to move away from our belief in small government. Remember, Bush expanded the government in many cases and increased spending. Americans still want less government in their lives and feel that "there is no such thing as a good tax," to quote Churchill again. With so many Americans hoodwinked with this rescue plan/bailout that was supposed to help Main Street, Republicans need to just say "no" to more bailouts.

Many Americans are willing to let government do certain things and realize that they depend on certain programs like Social Security. So we should change the rhetoric from big vs. small government to effective and efficient government vs. bureaucratic or ineffective government. As the saying goes "there is no Republican or Democratic way to pick up the garbage." Let the Democrats choose the issues in the years to come. We just argue that we can do it better and describe how.

Step Two - Maintain the Coalition. We need to retain the Reagan recipe not recreate the man. There are calls from all sides to either reincarnate Ronald Reagan or totally remake (read: undo) the coalition.

There is only one Ronald Regan and he is not coming back. But his legacy remains and there is much that can be learned. He brought and held together social, economic and defense Conservatives. Those that did not consider themselves part of either of those groups were swayed because of his charisma and rhetoric much the way people were attracted to Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. In defense of McCain, he showed charisma as well but more so during his 2000 race for the presidency when he smiled more and was the maverick and the "American Hero." He did not stop being that hero but he did lose some of his cool. We need to find new leadership that recaptures the sunny optimism of a Teddy Roosevelt, F.D.R. or Kennedy, but with politics of a Reagan and the heroism of a McCain. These people are out there somewhere and we must recruit them.

Step Three - Steal the Bacon. The Democrats had a 50-state plan and were able to take some "red states." First we work on getting them back. Yet simultaneously we do not just acquiesce geographic areas like urban centers to the Democrats. And most importantly we must find ways to cut into non-traditional Republican demographics.

A great way to begin is to appoint Michael Steele as chairman of the Republican National Committee. Not because he is black - because he is qualified. And lastly grass roots initiatives have to be implemented to approach the poor in the inner cities and begin to engage their political conscience. We have to do what the Democrats promise to do, create change and provide jobs. Not by expanding government but by using the bully pulpit and pure leadership skills to bring private enterprise to invest in poor urban areas.