"Some constructive criticism would be nice."

I don’t typically read TPM Café, and I’m on record as making fun of its stodgy, self-serious liberalism (sort of like something else I wrote about recently). However, I’ve often appreciated Matt Yglesias’ writing, and his blog there has some insightful material. Especially noteworthy is this:

I'm constantly reading Weekly Standard articles about how Don Rumsfeld or someone is messing something up and betraying Bush's pure and awesome vision, or seeing National Review writers talk about how Bush is a great president and it's too bad he doesn't care about limited government. Meanwhile, we've seen huge numbers of mainstream media types accept the view that "strong leadership," "moral clarity," and "bold vision" are the proper metrics for evaluating the performance of an elected official rather than actual policy results. The view that it's his fault when bad things happen -- or, at a minimum, that it becomes his fault when he refuses to take corrective action -- doesn't seem to occur to a very large number of people.

Yeglesis is right to call out the conservative movement for its unbending support of the President, even when his actions need criticism. There’s far too much lockstep Bush-love in today’s conservative movement, partly out of fanboyish appreciation for a President that speaks to so many deeply felt conservative causes, and partly as a response to the continuous, outrageous pummeling he’s received from the liberal press and its rapidly developing blogosphere farm team.

This is not to disqualify myself from the legions of Bush supporters. He’s done much good, drawing attention to important social issues and displaying the willingness (if not always the managerial skill) to make some tough military decisions.

However, there’s a protective tendency in much conservative media that simply won’t allow strong criticisms of the President’s management. These nonstop infusions of praise have had a dual result, encouraging his best tendencies to become stronger, but similarly allowing his weak spots to go uncriticized. In many ways, we’ve taken a somewhat lefty approach to the President, praising him for his good qualities but blaming others for his failures.

Criticism from the right (and in this case I actually mean “right”) sources helps an elected official shape his or her policies, knowing when to pursue an agenda and when to modify it. Republicans shouldn’t be afraid to publicly frown on an idea, even from within their own party. With Bush, it’s not a criticism of the man, who I like, but a criticism of his policies, which aren’t always desirable. The nasty, partisan edge to political discussion these days makes that difficult; but honest commentary, like a good vaccine, can only make conservatives stronger.