Posted by
Patrick Henry on Wednesday, March 30, 2011 12:29:07 PM
As Republicans gear up to find a suitable presidential candidate, the field looks more and more like a bunch
of escapees from the movie titled "Usual Suspects." The names Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee
Donald Trump and Newt Gingrich are very familiar to most Americans, but they hardly strike fear into Democrat
hearts. They also do not have wide appeal within their own party
Each has a following. Palin wins the Tea Party hands down, Gingrich the neocons, Romney the business community
and the moderates, Huckabee the religious right and Trump the celebrity hounds. But none seems to have the appeal
across the board to unite the party, win over independents and intelligently champion conservative principles. What
most often happens in such situations is either that a candidate is chosen who loses due to alienation of elements in
his or her own party, or that a relative unknown, a stealth candidate emerges from the pack and becomes the
consensus darling, the workable compromise, the "well, I may not have gotten Palin, but at least you didn't get Trump"
default. The time is fast approaching for such candidates to raise their hands.
Who might they be? One such is Gary Johnson, Libertarian-leaning former governor of New Mexico. He is
conservative, bold, vital and seems to have little baggage. No one knows much about him yet, but he's clearly gearing
up for a run at it, and plans to skip the "exploratory" process and jump right into campaigning. Who knows? A guy
like this might catch the party's imagination.
Another outsider is Herman Cain, an African-American conservative who was the founding chief executive of
Godfather's Pizza. Now there's not much call for pizza at the G-20, but it's high time that America had a CEO with at
least a smidgeon of business experience and common sense. Cain is a fiery, persuasive public speaker, and as a
black man can attack Obama on the issues without being called racist, something none of the others can do in the
politically correct environment where Democrats drop the race card at will. It will be good to learn more about Cain.
Then there's Tim Pawlenty, former governor of Minnesota. He has the governance experience and the solid
credentials of a fiscal conservative. His public image is a bit milquetoast, but once you get past that and really hear
the guy out, he seems to have some snap.
Mitch Daniels, Governor of Indiana, is another outside possibility, and the favorite of conservative syndicated
columnist Charles Krauthammer. As the former budget director under Ronald Reagan, and a governor who exercised
strict budget constraints and brought a state swimming in red ink into surplus territory, he is better qualified to
manage the budget and economy than any of the others. Unfortunately, he's like the girl at the dance who flirts with
you constantly but the when you ask her out says "maybe." He needs to get in or get out. If he's in, I'm interested.
Other interesting candidates would be Congressmen Paul Ryan and Allen West, Senator Marco Rubio and Governor
Doug Christie of New Jersey, all of whom say (today) that they're not running. And what about General David
Petraeus?
If Republicans hope to take back the White House they must present America with a candidate who is not saddled
with controversies and faux pas, dogged by serial infidelities or financial scandals or prone to foot-in-mouth
disease. He/she must not be someone without governance experience, or who has failed in a leadership post. It
must be someone who can enunciate conservative principles in a fresh, new way, and who will fearlessly take on
the Democrat misinformation (read dirty lowdown lie) machine. He or she is out there. If it's you, please raise your
hand.