Everyone likes former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty.
His electoral and gubernatorial records is very impressive for somebody from Minnesota, while his courage to take on ethanol subsidies in Iowa and support American intervention in Libya has won him over some people who considered him boring and uninteresting.
But he's still being ignored by most Conservatives and Republicans.
Why?
Because the 2012 Republican base is acting a lot like the 2008 Democrat base: looking for the charismatic choice that will excite us next year instead of the substantive choice that will effectively lead us in two, which creates a situation where we are going against our historical roots of picking substance over style.
Republican voters in Iowa and New Hampshire will be heading to the polls in eight months to hopefully elect America's next President, but that is only going to occur if they focus on serious candidates who can win in 2012, and be able to govern in 2013.
That candidate, I believe, is Tim Pawlenty. But the main message, regardless of who our nominee is, stands strong: we cannot follow the Democrat lead in going for charismatic politicians instead of substantive leaders.
America needs leadership; not cheerleaders.
What say you?
I say don't blind yourself to the idea that Tim Pawlenty is the only serious candidate. Sarah Palin has been electrifying, but she damn sure also has a record which more than qualifies her to be considered a serious candidate.
ReplyDeleteAs a resident of Minnesota and a conservative, TPaw received my vote for governor however, I can't support him for president. In my opinion, he's a RINO. I'll offer two examples. During his administration, MN projected a two billion dollar budget SURPLUS. TPaw and the democrat controlled legislature argued over how best to SPEND it. Not even a whisper about putting it aside (how helpful would that be TODAY) or perish the thought, giving it back. Second was the new Twins stadium which was financed in part by a county imposed sales tax increase. At the time, MN state law mandated that no sales tax increase could be levied without first submitting the increase to a public referendum. Of course the dem's wouldn't let something that trivial stand in their way so the state legislature voted to CHANGE THE LAW, thereby circumventing the will of the people. TPaw signed the new law without even a comment. Does that sound like a conservative? There are other examples and they will come out as the election cycle heats up. I think his current positions are a classic case of saying what you need to in order to get elected. Kind of like the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
ReplyDelete