Filibuster Cartoons
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It’s probably safe to say that expectations could not have been lower for last night’s CNN debate of the leading Republican presidential candidates. After all, since the entrenched conventional wisdom has long held that the GOP field is cluttered with raving, ignorant, radical demagogues, all the candidates really needed to do to look impressive was to speak in complete sentences and not demand to see Obama’s sonograms. In that respect, everyone went well above and beyond.
You can read my specific analysis of each of the seven candidates here, but suffice it to say, I walked away from last night’s debate with a renewed appreciation for the seriousness and passion of the guys on stage. They’re ideological and unyielding to be sure, but also far better informed and far more insightful about the specifics of policy and governance than their current sound byte-focused media caricatures portray. I don’t see how anyone could watch the gang’s discussion of TARP, for instance, or the auto company bailouts, and not conclude that these people are, by the very nature of their jobs and backgrounds, knowledgeable and mature enough to at least fulfil the base duties of the presidency without accidentally nuking the world, or whatever.
But that’s also a problem. In some respects there was almost too much harmony among the candidates. Everyone seemed “good enough,” but no one seemed stellar. Even the supposed “craziest” candidates, like Bachmann and Santorum, didn’t seem that much less reasonable than the supposed “moderates” like Pawlenty and Romney. In this current era of conservative insecurity, where the Tea Party has helped transform the GOP into a parliamentary-style institution of intense ideological conformity, there’s very little political advantage to be gained by any Republican politician who dares deviate from the now set-in-stone conservative norm. I wouldn’t say anyone was really “hugging the center,” but they were certainly all hugging the established, acceptable, non-challenging “center-right” — and, by extension, hugging each other.
A lack of willingness to deviate from the grand American conservative consensus of 2011 kept all the candidates excessively cordial. After all, when you all agree, what are you supposed to bash each other over? Everyone seemed prepared to take everyone else at their word, and not question anyone’s commitment to the conservative cause, or contest their ideological purity. Even ol’ Ron Paul emerged less scathed than usual, in a testament to how increasingly mainstream his own once fringey worldview has become.
Paul’s a good case study of the downside of this phenomenon, however. Since he wasn’t particularly distinguished or differentiated by anything he said last night, it was hard to focus on anything but his appearance and personality; his screechy voice, his ill-fitting suit, his propensity to ramble. Herman Cain was distinguished mostly by his strong African-American cadence, which seemed noticeably jarring in the context of a Republican primary. Romney was distinguished by his uptight dad-like corniness, which is increasingly passing for “presidential.” Bachmann was distinguished by being a woman. When all the candidates are championing the same ideas and pledging nominal fidelity to the same causes — right-to-work legislation, opposition to gay marriage, no debt ceiling raise without spending cuts, repealing Obamacare, etc — there’s really nothing to left to pass judgement on except the superficial.
The 2011 Republican race may thus wind up very much like the 2008 Democratic one. There wasn’t a great deal of ideological space between Hillary and Obama either, lest we forget. Obama’s eventual triumph largely flowed from the fact that he was simply more charismatic, charming, articulate, and interesting than the former first lady, and whoever winds up with the GOP nod will probably be able to credit his (or her) own victory to similarly non-political factors. And knowing this current group, what will eventually pass for “best in show” probably won’t come down to much more than “least obviously flawed.” Which in my view, means Romney.
What do you think? Based on superficial attributes alone, who in the current GOP field seems like the most attractive candidate?
June 15th, 2011 at 10:02 am
As opposed to actual executive experience. The bright-er candidates will fade away when it comes to national security. Most likely Romney will choose bachmann as VP candidate. That is, if Rick Perry or Christie don't run.
June 15th, 2011 at 10:30 am
I can understand what you mean, but there is still a bit of a divide when you dig under the surface. Romney is the most "mainstream" of the bunch and seems the most "presidential" due to his experience as a governor and a wealthy businessman. Bachmann is a Tea Partier, which means she also holds some of their problems (Ron Paul's ideology is still fringey; he's the only anti-UN candidate for one thing), etc. Pawlenty is reasonably conservative and went off the deep end with his tax plans. Etc. But as you said, that requires actually looking at them more deeply than the media has so far. The Elephant needs to open his boxes.
June 15th, 2011 at 12:41 pm
I used to support Ron Paul, but he's too ideologically strict and unwilling to look at reality. Trying to get out of the UN and NATO would cost us more than its costing us currently to keep them. The best thing we can do is marginalize those organizations, as Bush did in Iraq where Britain and the US got to determine policy. That's why every diplomat in the world had a grudge, because they couldn't feed at the trough. The only hope for Afghanistan is for something similar to happen, otherwise bureaucratic corruption will stall any effort at stability.
June 15th, 2011 at 1:36 pm
That is perhaps a valid concern, but the thing about a President Paul is that he would be restricted by Congress in many many ways, so any of the "radical" plans that people associate with him wouldn't be able to be enacted without a complicit Congress. And if you believe him to be an honest man, then he would also never overstep the delegates powers of the President (unlike every other modern President).
June 15th, 2011 at 1:57 pm
Cereal is one of JJ's favorite American foods! (creeper…)
June 15th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
An honest politician?
Joking aside: Even if his ideas are too radical to pass, then what? We just get a normal president? Then what was the point !?! Besides: even if he can't get us the gold standard, he would still be able to execute changes as seceding from the UN and taking all the troops back home from Korea and such. He'll be locked in domestically, but his foreign policy will have much freer reign.
June 15th, 2011 at 7:20 pm
Considering that "generic Republican candidate" has done a decent job of rivaling Obama in opinion polls, you would think that Pawlenty would be a shoo-in.
June 15th, 2011 at 7:46 pm
I've been surprisingly impressed by Herman Cain, in that he seemed to have the most genuine grassroot support, but I think after this debate he's been eclipsed by Bachmann from the Right. I'm thinking Romney will win as the establishment choice, and pick either Bachmann or Paul Ryan as his running mate to secure the base.
June 15th, 2011 at 11:40 pm
The entire field of candidates for the GOP are bland boring standard fare for the GOP for the past two years. The issue is that appealing to their base involves appealing to people who hate very certain factors about all of these candidates. Bachmann is a woman. Cain is Black. Romney is a Mormon (No matter how hard he tries, Romney will not, and cannot, sway the heavy Christians who will hate him just for his religious views.) That's 3 automatic losses to Obama off the bat. Paul is insane. Gingrich has already completely alienated his party and is pretty much doomed. And Santorum inspires so much hate from the Left that he'll actually pull out a similar Palin effect from 2008: More voters just to prevent him from taking office. Quite frankly, the GOP is screwed, and probably just biding its time for 2016.
June 16th, 2011 at 4:40 am
"Bachmann is a Tea Partier, which means she also holds some of their problems "
Which problem is that, the one where a) the Tea Party spearheaded the largest shift in federal congressional power (63 new GOP) since the 1960's, or b) the nationwide shift on the state/locality level to GOP candidates (nearly 700 GOP state congress, governors, auditors, city council, etc.) all in November 2010 after the Tea Party had less than 2 years on the political stage as a cohesive movement?
If that's a problem, Bachman is golden.
June 16th, 2011 at 4:43 am
Obama spent 107 days actually working as a federal Senator after he was elected in 2006 and co-authored only one piece of legislation. He pretty much voted party line.
I'm not sure of the actual number of days Palin was governor but she accomplished much more than that.
June 16th, 2011 at 4:44 am
The document screening by the media could actually rehabilitate Palin in a lot of people's minds.
June 16th, 2011 at 4:49 am
Obama's policies have damaged America's economy, job growth, international relations with our allies, and energy production.
He was given a Nobel Peace Prize and now we are in Libya, Yemen and the rumors say Syria soon.
He plays more golf and has more vacations than Bush did.
His health care initiative is unraveling on its own without any help from detractors. His financial reforms are causing havoc with small banks and businesses.
If you think that America is going to let that walking boondoggle get another 4 years because of superficial issues in his opposition, especially after November 2010, you aren't paying much attention.
June 16th, 2011 at 5:00 am
I think calling the Republican field bland simply buys into the media talking points about them. They're politicians, and politicians are rarely bland. The media seems willing to black them out to make Obama seem dynamic in comparison. However, at the end of the day, Obama is going to have to run one-on-one against someone, and then the media will be forced to at least acknowledge the opponent.
June 16th, 2011 at 9:07 pm
I point out that among Tea Party candidates running for higher offices, governors and senators, in 2010 somewhat underperformed against that wave. Nobody really pays attention to their state congresspeople, auditors, or city councilors, and even people running for US House don't get that much scrutiny. In contrast, the likes of O'Donnell, Angle, Paladino, and Miller (though he lost to another Republican) performed significantly below what you'd expect of a generic Republican running in that environment. Bachmann may ultimately be a better candidate than those people but given her tendency to babel on about un-American activities in Congress I'm skeptical she can survive a protracted national campaign.
June 17th, 2011 at 2:28 pm
Palin was Governor from Dec. 4, 2006 until July 26, 2009. That's an interval of 965 days (minus an hour for daylight savings).
Obama was Senator from Jan 3, 2005 to Nov 16, 2008. That's an interval of 1413 days.
How are you calculating "days actually worked?" I'm sure Palin put her gubernatorial duties on hold during the 2008 election just as Obama did with his senatorial duties.
June 17th, 2011 at 2:40 pm
What polls are these? These say Obama ahead pretty much across the board: http://tinyurl.com/427e4zd
June 21st, 2011 at 3:03 pm
In Palin's defense (which I do not enjoy saying), Obama spent less than two years (less than that) actually in Congress and another two campaigning. Palin started campaigning in August.
Of course, you couldn't calculate how much time they spent plotting (before running for Obama, after losing for Palin) when they weren't actually campaigning, and how much time they spent carrying out their duties when campaigning.
There is no denying the weakness of Obama's legislative record, however.
June 21st, 2011 at 3:04 pm
I'd say Jon Huntsman isn't made of "100% PURE REAL AMERICAN CONSERVATISM" and doesn't deny it. That could help our anthropomorphic elephant friend.
June 30th, 2011 at 1:53 pm
As you may recall Trump brought the last four candidates back into the boardroom and informed them that by the end of the night two of them would be going home. I cant imagine that anyone lost sleep worrying about who the last two candidates would be or really one as Piers Morgan was unquestionably going to be a finalist but it was still interesting to watch the elimination unfold tonight…At the start of this weeks episode Trump informed the four candidates that they would be interviewed by two CNBC personalities Jim Cramer and Erin Burnett.
July 3rd, 2011 at 7:55 pm
h-c-g…
Lovely day for blogging huh…
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