The Bulldozer and the Big Tent: Blind Republicans, Lame Democrats, and the Recovery of American Ideals

Why have the Republicans been so much better than Democrats at getting and exercising power? Why, even after a series of disaster culminating in the “thumpin’” his party took in the 2006 elections, is George W. Bush still the darling of an enormous political base? And what connects Bush’s enduring appeal to the seemingly inexplicable rise of Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson and the sudden popularity of Barack Obama?

In The Bulldozer and the Big Tent, Todd Gitlin—long acknowledged as one of A...