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Jewish World Review June 8, 2011 / 6 Sivan, 5771 Republicans long for non-existent candidate By Robert Robb
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
There are two questions hanging over the 2012 election: Is the Republican presidential field surprisingly weak? If so, why?
The questions have salience because of the perception that Barack Obama is a very vulnerable incumbent.
The economy has yet to find solid ground. Obama's policy of trying to stimulate the economy through a massive increase in federal spending is generally regarded as having failed.
It did, however, aggravate and accentuate the country's debt problem, which has become the top domestic issue. Obama seems to be more inclined to politically finesse the problem than to solve it.
All of this should make the Republican presidential nomination very attractive. Yet the general perception is that the quality of the candidates does not match the quality of the opportunity.
On paper, this isn't necessarily so.
Of late, the American people have looked at governorships as a good training ground for the presidency. Four of the last six presidents have been governors.
There's much sense in this. Experience running a state government is as good of preparation as there can possibly be for the unfathomable job of being president.
There are two former governors in the Republican field who would seem to fit the bill: Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty. Both won election in Democratic states (Massachusetts and Wisconsin, respectively), so their political chops would seem to have been proven.
If you were choosing a Republican presidential nominee on the basis of resume, Romney would be the obvious choice.
In contrast to Obama, Romney had a very successful business career, as a consultant and an investment banker. He knows how the economy works from the ground up. He has extensive and productive management experience in both the public and private sectors. He's a proven problem-solver.
There would seem to be a strong match between the country's needs and Romney's talents.
And yet there is something unsettling about Romney as a politician. He has changed his positions so many times on so many fundamental issues that it is hard to credit him with having a core philosophy.
A non-ideological technocrat may be what the country needs right now. But it's not what Republican primary voters want to nominate.
Pawlenty fits the ideological profile Republican primary voters want more comfortably. But not the attitudinal profile.
Republican primary voters want someone who will not only do something about the debt, but be angry about it. They want someone not just to defeat Obama, but to dance on his political grave.
Pawlenty has a sunny personality. He doesn't do wrath well.
I suspect sunny would work better in a general election. But Republican primary voters are looking for someone to give voice to their sense of outrage.
Hence the hunger for someone else. There are two someone elses which, if their traits were merged, would be the ideal Republican nominee this time around: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan. Ryan knows the issue of this election better than anyone and addresses it more persuasively and thoroughly than anyone. And Christie gives voice to the gruff and direct politics Republicans long to hear.
But they are unavailable and presumably not agreeable to some sort of Vulcan mind meld.
In reality, there is no ideal candidate for an impossible job. Ronald Reagan didn't become a Republican icon until he won re-election thumpingly in 1984. At this point in time in 1979, he was regarded as a has-been.
An unsatisfactory field? Yes. A weak field? A premature judgment, at best.
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JWR contributor Robert Robb is a columnist for The Arizona Republic. Comment by clicking here.
© 2011, The Arizona Republic |
Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||
