THE GOP DILEMMA
And a HUGE dilemma it is for the GOP, now. Romney versus Gingrich, establishment versus insurgent, moderation versus hard line rhetoric, money versus message, and a host of other differences between the two men, only one of which will now win the GOP nomination to run against President Obama in November 2012.
Dan Blatz, a Washington Post columnist says it much better than I can. Go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/romney-vs-gingrich-highlights-gop-unease/2012/01/22/gIQAF35KJQ_story.html?hpid=z1&sub=AR if you are so inclined.
He muses among other things over who BETTER could bring the GOP to closure in real unity behind one candidate. He speaks of being able to bridge the gap in GOP politics, not yet national politics, to bring the very disparate wings of the GOP together. Daniels, Halley Barbour, Huckabee, Christy are all part of that bridge, in his view. Jeff Bush and Mario Rubio are included as well, based on their ability to win elections and govern effectively in a diverse state such as Florida.
Romney in particular seems to be moving the focus of his campaign now. He has begun to attack Gingrich as a FAILED LEADER, considering his “resignation in disgrace” as the Speaker of the House and the ethics investigation years ago. His claim is that the GOP members in the House and Senate, all of course Washington insiders, rebelled against Gingrich’s style of leadership. He for sure has a point in such attacks.
Will Gingrich in the White House have so many “grand ideas” that no one will be able to figure out which one to support? Will Gingrich be all over the political map in grandiosity such that the nuances of policy and legislation get lost in the debates that really matter? Great questions to ask, in my view, and then Romney has to show why he can do a much better job as a national leader than Gingrich.
Romney, if nothing else as both a business man and a governor has shown that he is a problem solver, not a strict ideologue. Yes, in his “heart” he is against abortion, but when governing in a very liberal state he had to pick the battles he could win, despite his personal sentiments on a given issue.
To me that is a great way to govern, knowing when to fight and win or simply let less important issues go the way of the vast majority. I saw an ad last night game about hunger. It said “If you cannot feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” Abortion is like that, in my view. If you oppose abortion, then simply don’t have one or allow a member of your family to do so.
Of course that will not satisfy the zealots supporting choice or life, both of which want government to make universal decisions for all of us. Well Baloney for this conservative that wants more than anything to get government FARTHER away from my personal choices and the way I make or spend money.
More than anything THAT is why I so strongly oppose the Sanctimonious Santorum, whom I now call the “little twerp” as well. I don’t want a President that calls for “bedroom police” or telling me with the force of government how to make my own moral decisions. In fact I soundly reject that whole wing of the GOP, the Rita Cromwells (local pro-life zealot) that routinely vote Republican.
To me they are the ideological equivalents of blacks that vote Democrat all the time. Neither faction has anywhere else to go with their ideology, which is NOT mainstream American ideology. It is single issue ideology that should NOT sway the majority of sensible Americans concerned about ALL Americans, not just “slices”.
My greatest concern at this point is the battle for the 2012 “heart and soul” of the GOP, a candidate near the mainstream of American politics or one more to the right of that political center of gravity, will ultimately be destructive and drain the financial coffers of the GOP.
The BIG fight, in my view is over the political “heart and soul” of America, politically. That will be the fight in the general election, a clear choice between something “right or left”, liberal (progressive) or conservative, individualism or collectivism, constitutionalism or “whatever we feel like today” in American government at the federal level.
I believe Romney may now have a key point to make in the Florida campaign. He has admitted his mistake in letting his taxes be an issue, the failure to release his returns. He is going to fix that now and publish old returns and provide estimates for his 2011 federal taxes. Great! Then let Gingrich try to make a big deal over how successful Romney has been in making money or using the free enterprise system to earn a lot of wealth. That assumes of course that there is nothing close to being illegal in the returns released.
The debate of “you made too much money in your life” versus “you failed in a position of high leadership in government” is a debate that the first point SHOULD lose, hands down.
And frankly folks is that not the key point to debate in the general election between liberal and conservative? America KNOWS that Obama’s policies and lack of leadership have done harm to this country. And he of course will NOT run on his success, which is almost non-existent economically.
No the President will attack the GOP candidate and the entire Party as “fat cat” supporters, greedy, only caring about the rich, etc. Sure sounds to me like how Gingrich is currently attacking Romney.
I for one would like to have that argument when it really counts in the general election, not between two men that both will call for limiting the size and scope of government to set America back on the right track to future prosperity, economically and as the leader of the free world.
How about this tact for the Tea Party zealots in the GOP. Focus your strong ideology for the right wing of conservatism on your individual CONGRESSIONAL races. Use the strength of the Tea Party to win a solid majority in both the House and Senate in November 2012. You came close to doing so in 2010 so renew your focus of those races.
But back off the push to the far right in the race for the White House. Your positions are too extreme for the majority of ALL Americans right now, in my view. Put your money and your collective mouth as a wing of the GOP to sustain a solid majority in the House and do all you can to achieve at least a majority in the Senate.
If you do that and Romney is the President, I have all the confidence in the world that America will move back to the center or even somewhat to the right of center in politics. And that is where we should be on January 20, 2013 after we BEAT OBAMA in the race for the White House.
And never fear, those of you on the left. No way will the GOP win 60 seats in the Senate and you will be able to filibuster all you like, just as the GOP did to prevent “disaster” in 2009 and 2010 when Dems held the majority in all three “seats” of federal government.
Americans as a very strong majority do not want the extremes of either liberal or conservative government ideas to prevail. I KNOW how that grates in the minds of the extremists on both sides, but it is a simple and prevailing fact in American politics for 237 years, in my view.
