Our political Quote of the Day comes from conservative blogger Betsy Newmark, who we have linked to often over the years. She has begun to fear that the GOP could be on the verge of blowing a historic political opportunity. She notes that Barack Obama is seriously on the political ropes and notes a few things that could improve for him. Then she writes:
Or, and this is his best hope, the GOP could nominate someone who would be so unappealing that he would make Obama look good. And that is what I’m afraid of. It makes me heartsick that, in an election year when things are looking so good to defeat Obama, the Republicans main choices are now between Mitt and Newt, neither of whom is all that appealing. Mitt’s weaknesses as a flip-flopper are well-known and the DNC is already trying to soften him up and perhaps take him out by putting up in key states an ad targeting him on abortion and Romneycare. It’s an ad that could be run by any of his GOP opponents. And that’s no coincidence. The DNC and Obama team are paying him the compliment by indicating he is the candidate they fear most.
But today Ron Paul launched an even more devastating attack on Newt Gingrich.
Romney must be so thankful to Paul for doing his dirty work against Gingrich.
History is full of “if only’s,” but gosh, think of what it would look like if Mitch Daniels or Paul Ryan had overcome their personal and family’s objections and run this year. Or Jeb Bush. Or Bobby Jindal. If Obama wins next year, I fear it will be due to GOP weakness rather than Obama’s own appeal. And that would be just a dang shame. I’m used to voting for the candidate who repels me the least, but I’m also full of daydreams about the “if only’s” that would have both made Obama’s path to reelection even more rocky and given us hope for much more promising future president in January, 2013.
Indeed: a Mitch Daniels, Jeb Bush or Chris Christie could have been virtually assured to peel off a good chunk of independent voter votes. Moreover, they are more “mainstream” Republicans to those Democrats who are NOT fond of their party’s high-profile liberal wing (you know, the wing that insists on quoting or watching the increasingly tiresome Bernie Sanders and the increasingly heavier Michael Moore ad naseum and that feels Occupy Wall Street news is the most vital, critical news on the entire planet).
There is room for a Republican who believes in good, old fashioned coalition building and who makes at least a perfunctory nod at the dying 20st century virtue of political consensus (we are in an era marked by pushes for political domination). One reason why Romney could be more a challenge to Barack Obama in a general election is that if he reverted a bit back to the old Mitt Romney who was a moderate Republican governor in the campaign he could make inroads among voters who are concluded that Obama is over his head. Of course, that would mean he’d lose some Republican conservative voters since Romney is now forever defined by his flip flops.
Conservatives don’t trust Romney. And neither do liberals. So perhaps he IS the consensus candidate..
But a Daniels, Jeb Bush (even with the last name as you know who) or a Chris Christie could have had some appeal. I suspect Ryan would flop with the general electorate since he seems like too much of a conservative icon: he is an acquired taste that many independents and Democrats have not yet acquired.
Romney has political baggage; Gingrich has his personal, financial and martial hubris — plus Gingrich traditionally starts sinking in polls when he makes his own opinion of himself and his perceived role in not just American history but the history of mankind apparent.
One thing Gingrich doesn’t have is a self-esteem issue.
But, then again, neither does Herman Cain..
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.