The 2012 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination has been characterized by its miscues and blunders.\u00a0 One might say it is because of the number of candidates, the length of the campaign, and the intensity of the news coverage, but that would be too simple an answer.\u00a0 I would suggest that the blame rests in the poor quality of the not-dry-behind-the-ears political handlers who now lurk in every nook and cranny inside the beltway, hoping to latch onto any campaign that will take them on and pay what they ask.<\/p>\n
The most error-free campaign has been the Gingrich campaign.\u00a0 That may be because Newt has not had the money to hire a large staff of handlers.\u00a0 Newt\u2019s only major blunder came in a January 26 speech on Florida\u2019s space coast when he recommended the development of an American colony on the surface of the Moon and regular flights to Mars by 2020.\u00a0 Aside from that bit of unnecessary pandering, Newt\u2019s concern over Chinese military dominance of outer space is real\u2026 one that we should all share.\u00a0 He should have addressed those concerns and left it at that.<\/p>\n
Newt\u2019s principal shortcomings have been errors of omission\u2026 his failure to come face-to-face with the charges that relate to his \u201cimage.\u201d\u00a0 Whether this is due to his inability to attract the most insightful advisors, or if it is simply a result of Newt\u2019s own stubbornness, it is impossible to say.<\/p>\n
For example, Newt\u2019s principal opposition in the campaign has always been Mitt Romney\u2026 a man who entered the primary campaign with a large store of \u201cgood guy, nice guy\u201d currency and more money than all of his opponents combined.\u00a0 Newt should have understood from the outset that, because of the so-called \u201cbaggage\u201d he carries from his days as Speaker, he had little or no store of \u201cgood guy, nice guy\u201d currency.<\/p>\n
When Romney dug into his deep pockets to run $12-15 million worth of negative campaigns ads against Newt prior to the Iowa caucuses, the only viable strategy for Newt was to ignore Romney and to double-down on his attacks on Obama.\u00a0 By attempting to reply to Romney in-kind, Newt only depleted his limited resources and took a nosedive in the \u201clikeability\u201d polls.<\/p>\n
Romney\u2019s two principal charges against Newt\u2026 that he left the Congress in disgrace, and that he was disliked by the members of his own caucus because of his autocratic management style\u2026 should have been quickly and easily disposed of.\u00a0 Newt\u2019s response to the former should have been, \u201cThere is only disgrace when the one who is supposed to be disgraced actually feels disgrace.\u00a0 I have never felt disgraced.\u201d<\/p>\n
With regard to the latter, Newt would have been well-advised to make light of the \u201cautocratic\u201d charge.\u00a0 He should have acknowledged that, yes, his management style tends to be more suited to executive leadership (e.g. the presidency), where an autocratic approach is sometimes necessary, than to consensus-building legislative leadership, where the ability to \u201cherd cats\u201d is essential.<\/p>\n
In his occasional references to Romney, Newt\u2019s approach should have been designed only to get under Romney\u2019s skin, to force him outside his \u201cnice guy\u201d comfort zone by using mild sarcasm and ridicule.\u00a0 For example, without mentioning Romney\u2019s name, Newt needed only to point out that there was one candidate in the race who has been running for president longer than any candidate in the modern era, who has spent more than $40 million of his own money, and still cannot attract more than 30% support in his own party.<\/p>\n
But of all of the campaigns, the Romney campaign has been most error-prone.\u00a0 For example, after a scathing Wall Street Journal<\/em> attack on RomneyCare, Romney engaged in a pointless mea culpa.<\/em>\u00a0 He said, \u201cI stand by my successful healthcare plan in Massachusetts, but ObamaCare is a disaster because it does all of the things that RomneyCare does, just on a national level.\u00a0 So, if I am elected president I will give waivers to states so they can repeat my mistakes if they want to, or, if they are smart, they will reject both my approach and Obama\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n If he had any real sense of how conservatives understand the respective roles of state and federal government he would have said, \u201cYes, the Massachusetts healthcare reform plan has not been the panacea we hoped it would be.\u00a0 But the states are the laboratories of social and economic policy in our federal system and it is the states that must take the lead in trying to solve problems such as the healthcare crisis.\u00a0 Obama and the Democrats in Congress don\u2019t seem to understand that, when it comes to problems as great and as intractable as healthcare, the one-size-fits-all formula that they\u2019re so fond of just won\u2019t work.\u00a0 At least we tried.\u00a0 Now the Congress, the next president, and the other forty-nine states can learn from our experience in Massachusetts.\u201d<\/p>\n But it was in New Hampshire, in announcing his candidacy for the 2012 GOP nomination, that Romney displayed his glaring lack of conservative credentials.\u00a0 Appearing before a crowd of New Hampshire supporters, he said, \u201cI don\u2019t speak for the scientific community, of course, but I believe the world is getting warmer. \u00a0I can\u2019t prove that, but I believe, based on what I read, that the world is getting warmer. \u00a0And number two, I believe that humans contribute to that. \u00a0I don\u2019t know how much our contribution is to that, because I know that there have been periods of greater heat and warmth in the past but I believe we contribute to that. \u00a0And so I think it\u2019s important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may well be significant contributors to the climate change and the global warming that you\u2019re seeing.\u201d<\/p>\n A more wishy-washy endorsement of global warming does not exist.\u00a0 If his purpose was to throw an ironclad conservative position \u201cunder the bus,\u201d based on nothing but conjecture, why would he repeatedly insist that he didn\u2019t know anything about the issue?\u00a0 The statement is conclusive proof that money cannot buy conservative credentials or really bright campaign consultants.<\/p>\n The one thing a well-funded campaign should be able to buy is a staff of competent advance men.\u00a0 The Romney campaign\u2019s recent experience at Ford Field in Detroit is one of the worst examples of poor presidential advance work in modern political history.<\/p>\n The advance man\u2019s job is to see to it that everything goes like clockwork, from \u201cwheels down\u201d to \u201cwheels up,\u201d from the time the candidate\u2019s plane lands until he is once again in the air on his way to his next campaign stop.\u00a0 The advance man must cover, in advance, every inch of every street and highway that the candidate will travel.\u00a0 He must know exactly where and at what times traffic tie-ups might occur, and have two or more alternative routes in mind.\u00a0 He must visit every location the candidate will visit, and he must have precise plans for getting the candidate into and out of airports, restaurants, hotels, conference halls, private homes, and any other facility on the candidate\u2019s itinerary without a moment\u2019s delay. \u00a0If a drop of rain falls on the candidate\u2019s head, the advance man had better know how to produce an umbrella before the next raindrop falls.<\/p>\n The advance man must insure that the candidate meets the people he should meet and avoids those he shouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 He must know which local VIPs are likely to be at each campaign stop and brief the candidate on every notable he is likely to meet.\u00a0 He must know when the candidate has had his last meal, his last shave, his last visit to the bathroom, his last clean shirt, and he must allow time for all of these things in the candidate\u2019s schedule.<\/p>\n The advance man must oversee all transportation arrangements, including motorcades for the candidate\u2019s traveling party and cars or buses for the traveling press.\u00a0 He must satisfy himself that each vehicle is fueled, in good repair, and equipped with a competent driver.\u00a0 In the life of the advance man there can be no<\/em> surprises. \u00a0The advance man must know in advance the size and makeup of each audience the candidate will address.\u00a0 And if the audience is not sufficient to fill a room or a hall, he must do whatever is necessary to produce a large and enthusiastic audience.<\/p>\n It is not known whether Romney was surprised to find himself on Friday, February 24, speaking before a crowd of 1,200 people in Ford Field in Detroit, the 65,000 seat home of the Detroit Lions.\u00a0 According to a New York Times<\/em> report, \u201cBefore Mr. Romney had uttered a word, reporters began posting pictures online showing the stadium from every available angle\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n The Times<\/em> report concluded, \u201cRow after row of barren blue seats across the giant stadium made the crowd seem minuscule. \u00a0Through the rapid-fire, reality-reshaping powers of the Web, a storyline for the day began to take hold that undercut and detracted from Mr. Romney\u2019s words: big speech, tiny crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n Although Rick Santorum has had some remarkable success in the early primaries, his chances of being the non-Romney candidate are beginning to take some damaging hits.\u00a0 The media is beginning to paint him as an \u201cangry man.\u201d\u00a0 As a New York Times<\/em> editorial writer wrote on February 25, \u201cI once wrote that Santorum has one of the finest minds of the 13th<\/sup> \u00a0century. \u00a0It was meant to elicit a laugh, but there\u2019s truth behind the remark. \u00a0No Vatican II for Santorum. \u00a0His belief system is the fixed and firm Catholicism of the Council of Trent in the mid-16th<\/sup> century. \u00a0And Santorum is a warrior for those beliefs.\u201d<\/p>\n That \u201cangry man\u201d image of Santorum is likely to take hold as we approach Super Tuesday, leaving Romney and Gingrich as the only viable alternatives.\u00a0 That said, it\u2019s time Republican primary voters decided whether they want another moderate Republican\u2026 in the mold of Bush (41), Dole, Bush (43), or McCain\u2026 or if they want a man with the bold solutions, the keen vision, \u00a0and the leadership ability to lead the country back from the abyss.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 2012 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination has been characterized by its miscues and blunders.\u00a0 One might say it is because of the number of candidates, the length of the campaign, and the intensity of the news coverage, but … Continue reading