(I am hoping that I will be able to post more on this blog. We will see what we will see.)
It seems the 2012 GOP race is coming down to Romney or Gingrich. Santorum is a nice guy, but his squeaker in Iowa is as worthless as Robertson’s 1992 win. Paul? Don’t go there, please.
So what is left is the Comfortable Candidate and the Restless Candidate.
The Comfortable Candidate is the scion of a GOP power-broker family, the son of a previous candidate for the GOP nod. He went to all the bests schools and had a very stable youth. He is the man from whom great things are always expected. His personal life is picturesque. He is the man who has spent his whole political life avoiding risk. When he does something or says something he later regrets, he hopes we will ignore it and acts like he never said it, even to the point of re-editing his own book to remove the offensive passages and calling anyone who points it out a liar. He has tried hard to make the people he thinks he needs to win comfortable. He seeks to avoid giving offense.
The Restless Candidate is the son of a teenage mother who was adopted by his stepfather. He went to public schools and had to earn his way to and through college. He made his own fortune in spite of his underclass background. He spent his youth in several states and even in Europe as a military brat. His personal life is a mess. His political life is filled with taking on the comfortable and risking all to achieve his goals. When he does something or says something he regrets, he owns up to it and explains why he was wrong. He does not suffer fools gladly.
The Restless Candidate wants to diminish or dismantle the welfare state. The Comfortable Candidate wants to run it.
The Restless Candidate wants to kick sacred cows and overturn tables. The comfortable Candidate wants to refine the milk production and get his cut.
The Restless Candidate will leave businesses at the mercy of their customers and competitors. The Comfortable Candidate will protect them from both.
The Restless Candidate believes in confronting our country’s adversaries and having the military to back it up. The Comfortable Candidate wants to cut a deal.
The Restless Candidate wants to reform entitlements so that they fade away. The Comfortable candidate will shy away from the third rail and kick the can further down the road.
If elected, the Restless President will be in the news all the time with pundits outraged that he could do/say/propose such a thing. He will challenge their premises and seek to bypass the press and take his case straight to the people.
If elected, the Comfortable President will also face a perpetually hostile press, but he will do whatever he can to mollify them.
If elected, the Restless President will go after the budget with an axe. The Comfortable President will use a butter knife.
The primaries have only just begun. The most populace state so far has chosen the Restless Candidate, the least has chosen the Comfortable Candidate. The Iowa Caucus is a meaningless sideshow in the current primary system, so they don’t really count.
When you go to the polls you should ask yourself,”Am I comfortable or restless?”
Random Numbers 