Iowa’s Rep. Steve King probably has best summarized the Republican presidential field by saying that none of them is perfect. But then the same could have been said of any of our GOP presidents too. Even-gasp-Ronald Reagan had his failings.
While the Democrats made a mistake in believing that Barack Obama was the next JFK, Republicans make the mistake of always looking for the next Reagan.
Ronald Reagan is not here to save us. Sarah Palin will not save us. It won’t be Mike Huckabee or any of the other wanna-bes who have figured out how to monetize their narrow popularity into fat TV and radio gigs but could never win the GOP nomination.
There’s only one candidate who stands far and away both the most experienced, the most qualified and the most ready to thoughtfully tackle the country’s problems and set us on the path to the next American Century.
He’s an original, he’s exceptional and quite frankly, Republicans are very lucky to have him.
That guy is Newt Gingrich.
And if he has a chance to win, he first has to show us all that he can take a punch and come up smiling.
While Mitt and friends- remember the guys who first invented Obamacare, called Romneycare?- spend their money on Super Pacs pointing out that Newt’s been married 3 times or that Newt has worked as a lobbyist, let’s take a look at what Newt really has done.
It was Newt Gingrich who reformed welfare; it’s was Newt Gingrich who engineered the GOP takeover of the US House for the first time in 40 years; it was Newt who founded the Opportunity Society; it was Newt who cut capital gains taxes. It was Newt, my Tea Party friends, who shut down the federal government in a showdown with the Democrats rather than compromise. It was Newt who took the fall for other Republicans over the impeachment of President Clinton.
Other than Ronald Reagan, you can’t name a political figure who has done as much to concretely advance conservative ideas than Newt Gingrich has.
Dr. Ron Paul? He was writing survivalist newsletters when Newt was writing real-life history by reforming welfare.
Because here’s the thing about being president of the United States: You actually have to get things done.
Ask Obama how that works.
And you have to do the right kinds of things.
Ask Mitt Romney how that works.
Compare Newt’s real world, political accomplishments next to his rivals’ accomplishments and they appear puny by contrast. Newt’s a great man surrounded by political pygmies.
There’s a pretty compelling body of evidence that when Newt Gingrich was an elected leader that he did pretty much what he promised he’d do and did it in a way consistent with conservative values. In fact, I would call him the greatest Republican leader of the last 50 years after Ronald Reagan.
When the GOP lost seats in 1998, Newt resigned not just as Speaker, but from Congress. As is often the case, Newt took upon himself the mantle of responsibility for failings in the party that were much deeper than one man.
The Republican Party has been much worse for it.
The GOP has nominated and elected lesser people for the presidency and few who equal Gingrich’s accomplishments.
There is some evidence that at least the Tea Party sees this judging by Newt’s ability to sustain support in the Tea Party despite establishment attacks on him.
And that’s important because no GOP president will be successful unless they forge a working relationship with the Tea Party.
The Tea Party gives political leaders smart enough to take the hint- such as a truly conservative president- the ability to talk again from the bully pulpit, to use the office of the president to actually accomplish things.
That’s an evolutionary development in our form of government; and the Tea Party can trace its evolution in some sense right back to the Republican Revolution of 1994, led by Newt Gingrich, who tapped into public feelings of government overreach and reckless spending by Clin-trons Version 1.0, all-socialist, all-the-time.
But unlike our current Congress and president, Gingrich’s Congress got things done.
So, if the Tea Party wants a president who will actually do things, Newt’s their guy.
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