Gingrich:

By late summer, 1862, Lincoln agonizingly concluded that a third faction had the right strategy for victory. This group’s strategy demanded reorganizing everything as needed, intensifying the war, and bringing the full might of the industrial North to bear until the war was won.

The first and greatest lesson of the last five years parallels what Lincoln came to understand. The dangers are greater, the enemy is more determined, and victory will be substantially harder than we had expected in the early days after the initial attack. Despite how painful it would prove to be, Lincoln chose the road to victory. President Bush today finds himself in precisely the same dilemma Lincoln faced 144 years ago. With American survival at stake, he also must choose. His strategies are not wrong, but they are failing.

You had me right here, Newt. I like where you’re going with it. I’m completely on board. But you dropped the ball:

Beyond our shores, we must commit to defeating the enemies of freedom in Iraq, starting with doubling the size of the Iraqi military and police forces. We should put Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia on notice that any help going to the enemies of the Iraqi people will be considered hostile acts by the U.S. In southern Lebanon, the U.S. should insist on disarming Hezbollah, emphasizing it as the first direct defeat of Syria and Iran–thus restoring American prestige in the region while undermining the influence of the Syrian and Iranian dictatorships.

Further, we should make clear our goal of replacing the repressive dictatorships in North Korea, Iran and Syria, whose aim is to do great harm to the American people and our allies. Our first steps should be the kind of sustained aggressive strategy of replacement which Ronald Reagan directed brilliantly in Poland, and ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet empire.

The result of this effort would be borders that are controlled, ports that are secure and an enemy that understands the cost of going up against the full might of the U.S. No enemy can stand against a determined American people. But first we must commit to victory. These steps are the first on a long and difficult road to victory, but are necessary to win the future of the Grand Imperial States of America.

OK, so I added that “of the Grand Imperial States of America” phrase there at the end. But it sure sounded like that’s where he was headed with all the rhetoric.

We’re in the unprecedented position of being the sole and unquestioned global superpower. That wasn’t the case when Lincoln battled the South in the 1860s or in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War, or Gulf War I. We couldn’t be an empire then if we wanted to. But now we can be an empire if we choose, so we need to reiterate to the world our complete disinterest in empire-building. We’re on the right track there in Iraq, pushing more and more control to the Iraqis. And we need to measure our rhetoric, focusing on freedom and democracy, not regime change. Bush does this well, and Gingrich needs to learn the same.

Then there’s the issue of Newt’s past. Because Newt had a big role in another broad, sweeping reform plan. And we all know how well that blueprint got implemented. It’s a big part of the reason for the domestic mess we’re in now.