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Robertson's shocker

"In the mental chess game pundits and power brokers play in the run-up to 2008, one complicating factor has been accepted as conventional wisdom: Rudolph Giuliani, the leader of most Republican polls, is too centrist to be accepted by the religious right's rank and file," John Avlon writes at www.RealClearPolitics.com.

"That's why a comment by the founder of the Christian Coalition, the Rev. Pat Robertson, on ABC News' 'This Week' with George Stephanopoulos this past Sunday should send shock waves through the Republican Party establishment and may signal the beginning of a healthy realignment in American politics," said Mr. Avlon, a columnist for the New York Sun.

"In response to a question about whether religious conservatives would split off from the Republican Party if a moderate like Mayor Giuliani were nominated for president, Rev. Robertson quickly said, 'I don't think so. Rudy is a very good friend of mine, and he did a super job running the city of New York. And I think he'd make a good president. I like him a lot. Although he doesn't share all of my particular points of view on social issues, he's a very dedicated Catholic. And he's a great guy.'

"This character endorsement is an important green light to a possible presidential run that some social-conservative political operatives were overconfidently whispering was dead on arrival.

"It is also a generous and timely reinforcement of Ronald Reagan's principle of the 'big tent' by someone associated with the far right of the party. With even tacit support and an established comfort level with leaders of the Christian Coalition, the broad popular support for a Giuliani presidential campaign that already exists among Republicans and independents could be unstoppable. He could be the first Republican candidate since Ronald Reagan to win both New York and California on the way to winning the White House."

Patience, patience

"Conventional wisdom suggests that President Bush has overreached on Social Security and that obstructionism is serving the Democrats well. USA Today has new poll numbers that lead us to question this assumption," James Taranto writes at www.OpinionJournal.com.

"According to the poll, 'Americans agree major changes are needed in Social Security: 45 percent say they should be made in the next year or two; 36 percent say within the decade.' What's more, the poll 'finds both parties viewed skeptically on the issue, though. Sixty-two percent worry that Republicans will "go too far" in changing Social Security; 61 percent worry that Democrats "will not go far enough."'