MSM Notes New Currents on the Right.

In an "Ideas and Trends" piece appearing in the New York Times today (July 20), Patricia Cohen reports on matters germane to the very essence of TheNextRight; the evolution of American conservatism in the era after George W. Bush. Some familiar names appear, such as that of David Frum, Christopher DeMuth, and Grand New Party authors Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam. Ms. Cohen aptly describes the issues faced by the conservative movement going forward:

Today, all of these policy cooks — as well as others who sit in nearby offices — are pushing wildly different ideas about which direction the party should take. A.E.I., like so many other bastions of the intellectual right, has returned to the kitchen to whip up a fresh menu of possibilities for disaffected conservatives looking for solutions to emerging problems like energy, the environment and immigration, as well as a way to comfortably fit these new ideas into a conservative ideological framework.

Ms. Cohen even quotes Mr. DeMuth as aptly saying:

We’ve been extremely discouraged by the policy trajectory of the Bush administration, with big increases in unfunded entitlements, big increases in deficit spending, considerable growth in government regulation

Indeed, the ideas piece linked to above goes on to note the division apparent on the Right on even such questions as the legacy and relevance (or lack thereof) of President Reagan to the future and success of conservatism. But, even as the NY Times piece notes, this debate will continue well beyond November 4:

Election day would seem to be the pivotal moment in this debate. Adam Bellow, a conservative book editor, recently argued that “the G.O.P. will not be revived through the efforts of intellectuals but by a talented politician who can build a new majority coalition. When that happens, as eventually it will, the intellectuals will be there to translate his or her political instincts into a new conservative ideology.” But as Ramesh Ponnuru, a senior editor at National Review, long a flagship of the right, said: “Whether or not McCain wins, there is going to be a lot of rethinking among conservatives.”

Emphasis mine. Do we yet know the identity of such a politician, or has such a figure yet to emerge? Discuss.