I Was Wrong On Santorum
Right after the Iowa caucus I wrote Santorum’s 15 Minutes: Can’t We Make It 5? after his strong 2nd-place finish there. I thought he was just going to be another flavor of the month, much like Bachmann, Cain, Perry and Gingrich had been at different times during the Republican nomination race. I was also hoping that he would go away after an even shorter time, than the others, in the limelight.
In the almost two months since, Santorum has been showing good numbers in the polls leading to today’s primaries in Arizona and Michigan. According to The New York Times, Romney and Santorum are now virtually tied in Michigan. So, I was wrong on two counts. First, Santorum has lasted longer than I thought he would. Second, instead of hoping that he would go away quickly, I should have been hoping that he would stick around long enough to nab the Republican presidential nomination, as some fear he might.
Why have I changed my opinion so radically? Two months ago, I welcomed the thought of having a good presidential race between two worthy candidates. But after seeing Romney’s recent willingness to move even to the right of Santorum, in his attempts to pander to the base, I have lost the respect I had for him. Someone who so readily and so frequently gives up his principles does not deserve and, more importantly, cannot be trusted to hold the highest office in the land. An office that is constantly confronted by opposing forces, competing agendas and unimaginable challenges.
The GOP Needs To Learn A Lesson
But if a lesson for Romney is the first reason I want Santorum to win the nomination, the second reason is also a lesson. A lesson for a Republican party that sorely needs it. This is a party that has engaged in levels of obstruction never before seen in this country, at least in modern times. A party that has reached such a high level of hypocrisy that they’ve started believing their own lies. How else can they be so openly and disproportionately favorable to the wealthy yet accuse President Obama of engaging in class warfare? It is a party that for the past four years has bred a monster of extremism out of lies and fed it with distortion on everything from the economy to social issues. A party whose members swallowed whole Newt Gingrich’s cry that President Obama could not be beaten by a Massachusetts moderate, de facto implying it would take an extremist to do so. You asked for it? You might just get it. There cannot be a better standard bearer than Rick Santorum to represent the extremism that the Republican party has so wholeheartedly embraced.
The third and final reason is the obvious one. If Santorum wins the GOP nomination, hell would have to freeze over before he can win the general election. There are still enough Americans with the required common sense, even in the Republican party, to prevent this. Once upon a, not too long ago, time I thought that it would be sad for our country to have this kind of Obama/Santorum match-up. Today, I think it might be the best thing to happen to us. Obama will get four more years, and perhaps the Republican party will learn a lesson that they most surely deserve.
