Remember Johnathan Krohn from 2009′s Conservative Political Action Conference? Then 13 years old, Krohn made himself a rising star of right-wing politics by delivering an articulate speech about the foundations of conservatism; the video went viral on the web. By age 14, he had literally written the book on basic conservative principles, and gotten attention from the likes of Newt Gingrich and Bill Bennett.

Now 17, Krohn describes it all as “naive.”

Politico caught up with the teen:

“I think it was naive,” Krohn now says of the speech. “It’s a 13-year-old kid saying stuff that he had heard for a long time.… I live in Georgia. We’re inundated with conservative talk in Georgia.… The speech was something that a 13-year-old does. You haven’t formed all your opinions. You’re really defeating yourself if you think you have all of your ideas in your head when you were 12 or 13. It’s impossible. You haven’t done enough.”

Krohn explains that he doesn’t consider himself a liberal because he’s trying to move away from fixed labels like that. But a rundown of his current positions does seem pretty leftist:

Gay marriage? In favor. Obamacare? “It’s a good idea.” Who would he vote for (if he could) in November? “Probably Barack Obama.” His favorite TV shows? “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report.” His favorite magazine? The New Yorker. And, perhaps telling of all, Krohn is enrolling this fall at a college not exactly known for its conservatism: New York University.

I can’t help but think about an op-ed in the Washington Post last year that compared Ayn Rand‘s Objectivist philosophy (the basis for much of modern libertarian conservatism) to institutionalized teenage egotism. As one commentor on this story put it, “So, we just have to wait for the rest of the Conservatives to grow up?”

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