It’s become apparent that there is currently no single candidate that unifies all the factions of the Republican party and that means that many people will have to “settle” on whoever is eventually nominated. So let the season of forgiveness begin:
Shall we forgive Mitt Romney for championing a healthcare law that is strikingly similar to Obamacare when he was the governor of Massachusetts? He hasn’t fully repented for it but it is true that as a Republican in that state he could not govern as if he were in Texas. Shall we forgive him for being a Mormon? I can, but I know a lot of people cannot.
Speaking of Texas, can we forgive Rick Perry for his blackout on a nationally televised debate? What about his Texas accent and way of being that is reminiscent of his predecessor in the Governor’s mansion. Shall we forgive him for that? And that hair, is that a forgivable offense?
Also from Texas is Ron Paul. Can we forgive him for an isolationist foreign policy that shrugs off our very real responsibilities in the world? I can’t.
Speaking of inept foreign policy views, can we forgive Herman “Ubeki Ubeki Uzbekistan” Cain for his simplistic “I’ll ask the experts” approach and his lapsus mentis on Libya? How about his clumsy handling of allegations of sexual harassment that have yet to be proven, can we forgive him for that? How about his health? No forgiveness is necessary for having had cancer but will the cancer forgive him?
Speaking of cancer, can we forgive Newt Gingrich for divorcing while “dying” his ex-wife had cancer? His daughter, who reminded us that the former Mrs. Gingrich is very much alive and well, thank you very much, already has. What of his appearance on the love seat with Nancy Pelosi to warn of the dangers of man made global warming climate change? He’s been asking for forgiveness, are we willing to give it? More troubling is that he took consulting money from Freddie Mac just as the the mortgage bubble was coming to a head. Money seems to be at the root of a lot of Newt’s sins. Can we forgive him for having a half million dollar credit line at Tiffany while his campaign went into debt? How about endorsing a liberal in a New York congressional race (it should be pointed out that the liberal was a Republican), forgivable?
Can we forgive Jon Huntsman for accepting an ambassadorship from Obama? A more grave sin is that he relishes in being the media’s favorite Republican, giving us shades of John McCain. I can’t forgive that. But perhaps the gravest sin of Huntsman is that nobody outside of political junkies and Democrats who want a weak Republican to be the nominee knows who the hell he is. Oh and he has that mormon thing going on too.
Santorum. Family guy. Serious guy. Social conservative. Former Senator. Lost his last election in his own state, can we forgive for that? What about his bland personality? We might forgive him for that but general election voters likely won’t.
Bachmann. A favorite of the Tea Party movement but also media’s bogeywoman which gives her high name recognition. Her husband runs a clinic that tries to get gay men to pray the gay away. Her social conservatism will endear her to many Republicans and alienate others, especially in the general. Can we forgive her for being divisive?
Whichever candidate we collectively choose, we’re going to have to forgive but never forget. We’ll have to trust but verify as Reagan once said of coming to agreement with the Soviets. Sad that we have to treat our party’s candidates as potential enemies but if we don’t we might never be able to forgive ourselves.
Trust but verify, heavy on the verify, IMHO. That’s our job as citizens. I saw this quote from Milton Friedman the other day at Ace of Spades:
“I do not believe that the solution to our problem is simply to elect the right people. The important thing is to establish a political climate of opinion which will make it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing. Unless it is politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing, the right people will not do the right thing either, or if they try, they will shortly be out of office.”