There is still a long way to go until the 2016 election. On radio, we talked about the real possibility that twelve (and maybe as many as fifteen) different candidates could wind up running for the Republican nomination.
We’re going to learn a lot about each of them through the process, but in the meantime, we can continue to endlessly speculate about how each one will handle certain hypothetical situations. Who is the best communicator? Who is the best on policy? Who can raise the money? What are the particular candidates strong points, and what are their weak points?
If you listen or watch my radio and tv shows, you know I’ve been known to shower praise on Ted Cruz to the point that it almost makes him uncomfortable. The man has taken every opportunity possible to stand for principle and has shown his character won’t be destroyed by entering Washington DC. That’s rare.
As we were discussing the challenges for Cruz and others, I mentioned that Cruz might have a tough time putting together a coalition because of all the work the media and politicians on left and right have done vilifying him. The way I tried to poorly summarize that was to say that “I’m not sure he could govern.”
Of course, the media has jumped all over that as if Vladimir Putin just came out as anti-Russia. But, context is key here. The specific example we used to discuss what we meant by “coalitions” and to “govern” was George W. Bush’s infamous decision in the midst of bailout mania as he “abandoned free market principles to save the free market system.” Bush quite clearly built a broad coalition to govern in that instance, but I don’t consider that something to aspire to.
This is also why we talked about how Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and John Mccain would be able to “govern” even though I am not a fan of any of them. Stu caught how ridiculous the way the Cruz comment sounded immediately: “you can't think he's the best candidate if you don't think he can govern.”
This is obviously true. Executing the nations “policy, actions, and affairs” as the dictionary definition reads is something I consider Ted Cruz to be quite capable of. Avoiding George W. Bush type “coalitions” is precisely why I like him.
I would expect Cruz to lead in a different way if he were elected. He’d go to the people with a healthy dose of common sense and try to change things from the bottom up, rather than trading favors for the compromising of his values.
We sort of muddled a bunch of different criteria and the media is going to focus on the one negative comment that will get them the most clicks, I understand that. But, the larger conversation was pretty amazing. This field of candidates is, so far, really impressive. There are strong tea party candidates, solid conservatives, and even lots of establishment credentials if you like that sort of thing.
It’s the democratic side that should be worried. There’s Hillary, a giant cliff, and then maybe Biden or O’Malley? I think we need to just cut to the chase and have a real libertarian/conservative go up against Elizabeth Warren or avowed socialist Bernie Sanders. This country could finally make up its mind based on two honest and completely different visions of the future of this country. I’d tune in for that. Bush vs Clinton again? Please, no. I just can’t take it.
Luckily, there’s only 18 months of this to go.
