It's a Crying Shame

Seriously, people...we are trying to hire the best person to lead the free world. It's a pretty important job...one which we should undertake with more rigor, and vigor, than any other job we do. What is really more important, in a big picture sense? What else do you do in your day to day life that literally impacts every single person in the whole world? Unfortunately, most voters don't think of it that way - like they are hiring someone for a critically important job. If they did, perhaps they would look beyond popularity contests and opponents' smears and do their homework. Ask yourself:

What are the qualifications for this job?

I have heard many people say they are supporting Rick Santorum because he shares their faith. Fine. Good. That's important. And what else, I ask? The answers are broad and very shallow. They don't know what else. They like his religious values. The fact is, Rick Santorum cannot win against Obama (unless this becomes a Carteresque election, in which case *I* could beat Obama). He doesn't EXCITE anyone...doesn't inspire passion. He is right on many issues, and is a good, decent and honorable man. But he is not compelling in any way. His range of experience is very narrow and his voting record abysmal. That very faith that his supporters embrace is going to be his downfall - rather than leading by example, he is already showing troubling signs of wanting to force the nation to support his world view. His faith seems to trump free speech when he vows to crack down on internet porn, and cloud his judgment on women's issues. He has a very bad habit of falling into liberal media traps...responding just as they hope he will, giving them ever more fuel for their frenzy. He will be destroyed by the media. It will be like the attacks on Sarah Palin, on steroids. They will eat him alive, and he has shown repeatedly that he does not do well under pressure. He will stammer and stutter and look like a petulant little boy, stomping his foot impotently. I shudder at the image.

Mitt also has a bad tendency of opening mouth and inserting foot, but Romney is at least more credible than Santorum, with a broad record of success in many diverse areas. He has the far superior organization, with extensive networks in very important places. He is the best equipped for the job, on paper. However, there is something missing in Governor Romney. I've not seen it quite put into words, and I can't either, exactly, but he is just not normal. A touch robotic, a little nerdy, he seems detached, there is no sense of urgency. One feels that he really doesn't comprehend the gravity of our situation. If he doesn't understand the problem, how can he possibly know the solution? Since he is the undeniable favorite, I keep trying to tell myself that he would be a much better President than he is a candidate, and I think this is actually quite possibly true. If guided by a strong, Constitution loving Congress, there is a reasonable possibility that he could be a very good President. Certainly our country would benefit from the morals and values that he and his family represent (the same is equally true for Santorum). There are some very good things about Mitt. Sure wish it felt like enough. Sadly, he has spent millions, not telling us how capable he is, but rather by attacking his opponents, nearly always dishonestly - words taken out of context, non-existent links between events invented - Romney has been the penultimate negative campaigner this cycle, and it has destroyed any sense of respect I had for the man. If you can't win on your own merits, why the hell are you in the race?

Then there's Newt Gingrich. Newt is a little too human, a bit too imperfect for many of us to accept. His verbal oops are legendary. It seems to me that he thinks out loud too much...is a little too willing to say what's on his mind - to speak the truth, even when it hurts him. When caught off guard, he has a bad habit of evaluating possible answers out loud, and says all sorts of politically incorrect things. He comes across as being somewhat impulsive, which scares the timid among us. But he has a PhD in history, an obsession with governing and politics, and an in-depth understanding of the making of our nation. Like a certain young candidate for U.S House for whom I once worked, Newt Gingrich would approach leading this nation with a firm grasp of the original intent of the founders. It is my contention that this is critically important, even essential. How can we expect our president to uphold the Constitution if he doesn't know where it came from, the context in which it was framed?

Gingrich has the capacity to generate excitement. Remember the standing ovations during the debates? I have personally cheered for his responses on many occasions, and have had tears in my eyes on at least as many more. They say he's unelectable, but in the general election, on the same stage with President Hopenchange, he would pit his considerable substance against Obama's vacuous, empty rhetoric, and the result would be astonishing. He has the ability to light a fire under this nation not seen in many years, to wake up a people who have grown very weary with politics as usual.

He is brilliant, has spent years learning about the many issues that we face. He thinks outside the box, and is not overly devoted to party. He made enemies on both sides of the aisle when he was Speaker, all of whom have crawled out of the woodwork to attack him now for revenge, but he was the single most effective Speaker of the House we have had in my lifetime - balancing the budget, reforming welfare and getting people back in the workforce. They were excellent years, by nearly any measure. Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich found ways to be bi-partisan in the best possible way, and they had an enormous positive impact on our nation. And guess what? Both of them were screwing around on their wives at the time. Didn't really seem to hurt the outcome a bit.

Why, my fellow Americans, would we not want to give that kind of thinking another shot? We have the opportunity to elect one of the two men who made that happen, and instead, we are listening to his many, many enemies, most of whom are the crusty, corrupt old former politicians and cronies that we profess to despise. Have we lost our minds? We have a guy who's been there, done that, had a decade to review his successes and failures, and to observe the continuing decline of his country. It is near certain that he has spent every day since he left office thinking about how to get the job done, planning his strategies, formulating solutions. Certainly he is able to intelligently discuss virtually any subject that is addressed, and has his own unique brand of solution for each crisis. He not only knows the ropes, he knows the potholes and how to avoid them.

Are we turning away from this exceptionally well qualified man because he's had three wives? Take it from me...some very, very good men have had three wives - I know from personal experience...it's utterly irrelevant. Or is it because of the phony ethics scandal? The one the Democrats started because he was so enormously successful they couldn't stop him any other way? The one where he was later found, after an exhaustive investigation by the IRS, to have done absolutely nothing wrong?

I don't know what kind of President Newt Gingrich would be...no one can ever know these things in advance. But he is boldly different, passionate and inspiring. His record is strong, positive and favors liberty. He has clear solutions on sooo many fronts...just watch a few hundred of his best YouTube videos. Yet, in this time of critical need, America is turning away from him. It's a crying shame.