Now for my expert opinion on this year's crop of Presidential candidates: They suck. We're screwed. Now back to you in the studio....
Oh, OK. Details....Mitt Romney is one of "them", the hedge fund/speculator/big money crowd that I generically call "The Bankers". That's his background, those are his financial backers, and that's who he'll fall in line with if he's elected. He likes to point out that in his former stint at Bains Capital he created a lot of jobs, but there's ample evidence his stable of companies were net job losers. Sorry Mitt, but we've given The Bankers free reign before, and look where that got us. No thanks.
Newt Gingrich....narcissist, hypocrite, dangerously smart, totally shameless. He, probably more than anyone else in Congress back in the 90's when he was Speaker of the House, empowered The Bankers to run crazy. He's not even well thought of in his own party. Remember the attempted coup by a sizable number of his fellow Republicans to oust him as Speaker? He tells us he's "reformed" and we can trust him to lead us out of the economic mess we're in. Hell, he couldn't even pay his own Tiffany's bill without collecting $1.6M from Freddie Mac for "consulting". *wink* Umm....no.
Ron Paul....the only one of the bunch I respect. He'll take a stand on an issue, regardless of how unpopular, and stick with it, the polls be damned. I admire that. I even like some of his positions. Most, however, are way out there. Not electable at all.
Rick Perry....where do I start? Smartly dressed, great hair, dumber than a box of rocks. He wants to bring the hammer down on "those Pakastani countries". Huh?
Santorum, Bachmann, that guy from Utah....not even on the radar.
Which leaves us Barack Obama. An incredible orator, a graduate of the Jimmy Carter School of Leadership, totally ineffective. He's much too liberal to be able to work with any Republican (as much their fault as his), and even a sizable number of Democrats keep their distance from him. Click here to see what commentator Chris Matthews, a "liberal's liberal", has to say about him. Can you imagine how ineffective he'll be in a second term as a lame duck? Ouch! Why is it an incumbent President gets an automatic pass by his own party to run unopposed?
Where are the LEADERS?
That's why today I'm announcing.... :)
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Do you really think Barack Obama is all that liberal? So many of the ideas he is currently backing were once bounced around by the Republicans. I agree with your descriptions of the Republican field, but I just don't see an alternative to Obama right now. But if you're about to announce your run for president, I'll give you serious consideration.
ReplyDeleteRelatively speaking, Stephen, yes, I think Obama is liberal. For example: "ObamaCare"...a basic idea I could support, but pitifully presented and executed so far. I'm scared to imagine what the actual implementation will be like.
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And I'm sorry to announce my candidacy is stillborn. Neither party would have me as I'm too pragmatic, I won't kiss any special interest butt, and I'm short the couple 'o billion dollars it would take to run a campaign. Such is life. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteI, too, agree with your views on the Republican field, except for "that guy from Utah." Huntsman is probably the one Republican who could give Obama a real contest in 2012. It remains to be seen, however, whether the voters will realize that in time.
ReplyDeleteAs for Obama, I must disagree. I'm reminded of an exchange between him and Steve Croft on 60 Minutes last night, where Croft said many liberals thought he'd be bolder. Obama responded that's compared to his critics who consider him a radical Socialist.
And I think Chris Matthews holds way too high an opinion of himself to have his opinion validated. (Kind of like Newt Gingrich! :>)
Bruce...you're right. I probably did a disservice to Mr. Huntsman. What I know of him I like, but as I said, with consistently low poll numbers, he's just not on anyone's radar.
ReplyDeleteAs for President Obama, I think he is too liberal, or is at least PERCEIVED as too liberal, to enable him to forge any kind of workable coalition with Republicans, and it's going to take BOTH parties working together to fix the HUGE problems facing us. That's why I say his has been an ineffective presidency. I think as a lame duck it will only get worse.
And as for Chris Matthews....ditto. ;)
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