REPLIES TO THE CURRENT QUESTION

Our question last week was:

Looking ahead, whom do you think is the best Republican candidate to face Barack Obama in 2012, and why?

Here are your answers.  The name of a writer is included only if he or she actually placed a name at the end of the message.  Otherwise, we assume the writer wished anonymity and "name withheld" is inserted.

Whoever it is, the Republican Party should keep it secret until the convention.  Why?  "Google" Sarah Palin or Bobby Jindal and the answer will be self-evident.  Since they are two of the obvious choices, they are currently "benefiting" from a lot of media attention.  Even so, they remain two of the best potential candidates.  Why?   Competence, experience, common sense, integrity and an actual resume of achievement come to mind.

That having been said, the two governors will continue to be investigated, castigated and trashed by the media simply for being mentioned as potential candidates.  It is up to the Republican establishment to get out in front of this particular train and try to slow it down.  Unfortunately, our Republican "leadership" appears to have thrown the two of them across the tracks and hopes that some kindly engineer on the Democratic media express will stop the train.  Good Luck!  

Another name being quietly bandied about is that of Ted Cruz, currently running for Attorney General in Texas.  He has the background, the resume and the right surname to take on "The One" head-on.  His comparative youth and inexperience in national politics will be trumpeted by the Democrats were he to enter the arena.  Apparently, those characteristics are only virtues for Democratic candidates.

I am embarrassed for my party to say this, but I don't think that a white, male, conservative Republican with a name like "Smith" or "Jones" or "Bush" will have a chance in 2012.  We bought into the ethnic stuff in electing a black president; so, we are going to have to "out-ethnic" the Democrats to have any chance.  Is that cynical?  You betcha!  It's a damn shame that Sarah Palin doesn't have some Inuit ancestors.

Don Newell
Vancouver, WA

This is a wildly speculative question.  After all, who in 2005 could have predicted Barack Obama as the Democrat's candidate? Perhaps, the better question would be what kind of candidate should the Republicans run in 2012?  And who does that immediately eliminate from the current crop of mentionables?  First, the Republicans must decide what kind of party they want.  Is it the conservativism of Ronald Reagan, Jack Kemp, and Newt Gingrich, or the crunchy-conservatism of David Brooks, Russ Douhat, and surprisingly, David Frum?  I come down on the side of the Reagan/Kemp flavor.  

Tellingly, the advocates of the crunchy-con Republicanism are mostly pundits who do not run for or hold public office.  The crunchy-cons are nothing more than pre-Goldwater Republicans.  As this was a losing strategy for 50 years one would have thought this idea dead and buried.  Just as the idea of socialism won't die no matter how often it fails, so too the idea that better management is a compelling message for election victory.

I must believe there is a group of conservative politicians who can articulate a Reaganite conservatism, tuned to today's issues, that will resonate with the electorate. This eliminates Mike Huckabee, whose brand of evangelical populism is just Obama lite with a Bible. Mitt Romney has the message but does he have the "street cred" with activist conservatives, and can he overcome his Mormonism with the evangelical crowd?  As an aside, the bigotry of evangelicals toward Romney's Mormonism was the saddest part of the 2008 election, other than the victory of Obama.  Governor Bobby Jindal has the  ideas and the energy.  Can he overcome his lackluster performance from January, and can an ectomorph beat a mesomorph?  Silly, but we live in silly times.  Sarah Palin has the message, experience, and the guts, but is she damaged goods?  She was unfairly targeted, but that's the reality.  Most probably it will be none of these.  In the wings are the likes of Mark Sanford, Mike Pence, Eric Cantor and others who have yet to hit the national scene.

My own outlook is grim.  Government only grows.  It never shrinks.  More than likely, the Democrats will socialize more and more of our economy, impose more and more regulation on our personal liberties, and ruin our standing in the world. The economy, despite Obamism, will recover and the populace will reward Obama and the Democrats with another four years and a continuing majority.  Any failings will be covered over by the MSM, helping to insure continuing Democratic rule. Whenever Republicans return to power it will only be a holding action.  With the election of Obama we have crossed the Rubicon to European socialism and cultural death.

Alan Weick