Posted by
Andrews on Friday, January 27, 2012 11:06:04 AM
I have generally avoided discussing the present primary campaign in this blog. First, because, for reasons I described in "
Should I?" I made a conscious decision to avoid most current events and stick to more general political, economic and philosophical principles (as well as the periodic gripe about spelling and grammar). Second, in this specific case, because I am not thrilled by most of the front runners. Santorum is not bad (provided the media can quit painting him as Torquemada incarnate), and Newt could be acceptable to a degree (especially as I don't particularly care if he is arrogant, what politician isn't? Newt just lets it show), but Romney suffers from the trifecta of being a chronic compromiser, being far too much of the traditional glad handing politician and, worst of all, just being boring (and this is from someone who was a Phil Gramm supporter). So I have avoided the election for the most part.
However, a recent article I stumbled across made me break that rule, just once. The article is "
The Long Run" from the New York Times. I don't know if any critics have responded to this yet, but I know for me, it turned me from a lukewarm Newt supporter into someone much more willing to become a fan.
The article is full of moderate Republicans basically saying Newt should not be elected because he fights with Democrats. The basic argument is that Newt is just not a good compromiser. To which I reply "hallelujah!" We need someone who will fight Democrats rather than letting them enact their agenda piecemeal under the pretense of "getting along". The Democrats have managed to get quite a bit through the Washington GOP thanks to having dominated congress for a long period, it is about time someone applied the brakes.
And, honestly, if Newt was so bad, how did the class of 1994 get so much done? If he can't compromise or manage to win his fights, what happened there? Does Dole really think Bill Clinton invented welfare reform?
So, thanks Bob Dole and the rest, you have managed to make me like Newt a lot more than I did. He still has some big problems, as do all candidates running on both sides, but Newt definitely seems much more appealing now.