Conservatives can look forward to three things in 2007 that haven’t received enough attention:

Visiting Scholar Gerard Alexander

First, whether Democrats understand it--much less like it--or not, the American people will now hold them partly responsible for Iraq policy. This is as it should be, since congressional majorities bestow responsibility. But this will highlight the deep divisions that exist among Democrats over foreign policy, divisions that go much deeper than just Iraq.

Second, conservatives get to watch the Democrats try to paint the Republicans as a rump Southern party that’s out of step with the rest of the country. But it was the Democrats themselves who lopped off the only Southerner in the top tier of 2008 GOP presidential candidates, Senator George Allen. All the currently leading GOP candidates are emphatically non-Southern and well-positioned to reach out to voters in the West, Midwest, and even Northeast.

And third, conservatives should appreciate a sea-change that the 2006 elections revealed in American politics. Today, many Democrats are clearly afraid that their new officeholders will screw up their recent victories, which is why they are treading so cautiously. This shows that many liberals have abandoned the sense of entitlement to govern that characterized them for so long. That is the result of decades of legitimizing of conservative ideas, leaders, and policies. Since most conservatives don’t have a sense of entitlement either, we’re seeing what amounts to the most level political playing-field that modern conservatives have ever seen.

Gerard Alexander is a visiting scholar at AEI.