Days of Change

Day 1193 – CPAC 2012

One of the ironies of this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference is that in 2008, members were excited about Mitt Romney’s appearance and saddened when he announce the suspension of his campaign for the Republican nomination. Another irony is that frontrunner John McCain was considered a moderate, even though he was more socially and fiscally conservative than Romney was as a governor. I personally found 2008 Romney to be overly willing to use negative ads in lieu of a positive message. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

This year, Rick Santorum is rocking the house. Had it been a week or so earlier, Newt Gingrich may have been the star. Santorum has become the last man standing, the only candidate who has not imploded against Romney. It’s like Mike Huckabee actually won some primaries and John McCain only polled at 10%. Santorum is a social conservative who has shown willingness to reign in the budget. His personal life is not a mess like Gingrich’s. He isn’t pro Palestinian like Ron Paul. He isn’t trying to claim the Tea Party mantle like Michele Bachmann. Santorum is poised to attack Obamacare not only on fiscal grounds, but on moral ones.

His major drawback is the inability to draw independents or Democrats who object to his stand on gay rights. Contrary to popular belief, the majority of Hillary Clinton voters belong to Obama anyway. Rick Santorum has an appeal to the working class. He has the values of the working class. He also has the ability to appeal to the conservative base and the blue-collar non-union base that the Democratic Party has all but abandoned.Does that make him the best Republican candidate? I don’t know. I do know that he’s anybody but Obama.