I haven’t written on this page in a while. In the last year, I was elected as a county GOP chair in blue Maryland, then was forced out by my fellow members of the county Republican Central Committee, who felt I was not fit for the office of county chairman because either they thought I was not conservative enough or because I was the only African-American on an all-white central committee (depending on who you ask).
It appears that most insiders of the Republican party has lined up behind Newt Gingrich (whose best days were almost 2 decades ago) or Mitt Romney (who did not have one conservative inclination in his body before he decided to run for President). Neither one of these two men have the conservative credentials to establish a contrast to the big government programs that will be promised by Obama this year, nor have the proven moral commodity that demonstrates a clear distinction from the Obama promise of change in world affairs based on acquiescence to a re-established vision of American greatness.
I have known of Rick Santorum for 20 years. In 1992, I was a student body president at the University of Pittsburgh when he represented that area. He was the same man that he is now; a man of principle, a man of courage, and a man who does not take a poll sample of what he needs to say before he says it. There have been times when Rick was in the United States Senate when I cringed from the words he felt like he had to say on camera. As a political scientist, and a political science professor, I have often thought “what is he saying… what an idiot!”
In 2012, I think that Rick is the best hope for the Republican party to prove to the electorate that there is a difference between Republicans and Democrats. It is important for citizen voters to know that there are people who have different ideals of what government is supposed to do in our republic. I believe that Rick Santorum is picking up momentum because the people of Iowa get it; there should be a counter-balance to big government and the major anointed Republican candidates are not fulfilling that need.
Rick Santorum may have a history of not being charismatic… to date, he is still learning the art of presidential politics, but I think by tomorrow night, he may be in the top tier of GOP candidates.
The difference between Santorum and the rest of the field is that he is neither a Teflon skillet that has been overused to the point of irrelevancy (Romney), a poor sequel of the last Republican to hold the Oval Office (Perry), nor is he an unelectable grand-uncle that no one wants to put in charge of anything (Paul). He is his own man and I hope that the country will have an opportunity to hear his message.
Faculty, Department of Political Science, Towson University. Graduate from Liberty University Seminary.