Several months ago, I thought that there was just one Republican who stood a chance in the presidential election and that was Jon Huntsman. He's a diplomat-minded man, with the ability to reason with multiple sides. He's the Republican version of Barack Obama...with his conservative ideals, but also a willingness to compromise to get something done. He's a family man who has never divorced, who dropped out of high school, but earned his GED and then went on to college and graduated from U. of Penn.
You don't have that with any of the other Republican candidates, and it's amusing that they're mostly running to the Right, and not the Center. Or put it this way: When John McCain embraced the Right, did he win or lose the 2008 election?
Perry -- he's used threatening language against other Americans, and has recently suggested that he'd send troops right back to Iraq. He's not just fringe, he's out of touch with what Americans want. And he couldn't hold a decent conversation on economic policy, anyway. He's GWB 2.0, and he'll push through policies whose consequences he has no understanding of. He just can't stop putting his foot in his mouth, don't you think?
Gingrich -- shut down government as Speaker of the House, because he was angry at President Clinton -- even said so himself. He's abandoned his two previous wives with each new wife younger and a former staff member. He didn't work with Democrats before, and there's no reason to expect him to work with them, were he the President. I can't imagine a more belligerent President. He'd bring out Democrats in droves, on voting day, and would be cast aside as a has-been.
Paul -- people love him because of his more popular libertarian ideas. But he's a cafeteria libertarian: if the litmus test has Ayn Rand as the absolute Libertarian on one end, Ron Paul is just 2/3rd of the way there. Ayn Rand was against religion, because it tended to negatively affect humans, who would unquestioningly follow false concepts. Ron Paul uses religion to guide his opinions on how to treat sensitive issues such as abortion, and sees religion as central to the nation's governance. If Ayn Rand was around, she'd slap him in the face, I suspect. Actually, the thought of conservatives rallying behind a true libertarian (or even a 2/3rds libertarian) is somewhat amusing. After all, he would dismantle the military complex...something that's been at the core of conservatism since Ronald Reagan. To GOP, he represents a Faustian bargain.
Santorum -- I think he's the closest to being a true social conservative, bigot and all. He thinks the only people who use welfare programs, are black people, and believes that gay marriage is equatable to polygamy...which is to say, both should be illegal because they do not conform to social norms. Nevermind of course, that polygamy -- the act of having multiple marriages at the same time -- is not the same as two people marrying, gay or straight. He's anti-Muslim, anti-gay, anti-black, anti-poor. It would be a stretch that he could win 40% of the broad vote in a general election. There's a lot of questions on his votes for expanding Medicare and government in general...as Ron Paul has noted.
Romney -- No one trusts him, bottom line. He's switched his opinion, depending upon the audience he's addressing. As governor of Massachusetts, he's worked well with Democrats, and operated from the center. Now, no one can pin the tail on the elephant...or was that a donkey? Worse, he is out of touch with the average American, dating as far back as when he was in charge at Bain Capital. He didn't operate Bain Capital from a standpoint of most mom-and-pops operations. That is, Bain doesn't hold onto jobs, trying to weather a recession, but rather, looks to slash jobs to maintain profit margin growth -- if he didn't, he'd be tossed. He represents the 1% in body, mind and spirit -- just look at all the money he spent on the Iowa caucus. Obama's people think he's the biggest threat, but I don't think so...he's easily painted as a 1% guy out of touch with reality, and a flip-flopper.
So why not Huntsman? What is this backlash against a smart, bipartisan Republican? In the age of a growing China, set to become the largest economic producer in the world, I can't imagine a better candidate for President, than Jon Huntsman, who speaks fluent Mandarin. And here's the real secret: he'll grab most of the voters in the center.
He's the ONLY Republican candidate that I trust, wouldn't send the economy into another recession.
But then again, maybe the Republican Party shouldn't be saved from itself?
