I have held off endorsing anyone for president until now; I wanted to watch the campaign unfold and see which candidate was the strongest with the clearest positions that I could support. Well, the day for endorsement has come, and I choose Rick Santorum. Let me explain why.
There are three acceptable candidates left in the GOP field, and I would support any of them against Obama. I could not vote for Ron Paul, since his views on foreign policy are just too dangerous and naive in the current world. That leaves Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. In my view, both Romney and Gingrich have disqualified themselves, however.
Romney has always been a questionable conservative. I know Mitt's record well. I have followed his career for a long time; indeed, he graduated from law school in the same class as me. Romney ran against Ted Kennedy in 1994 as a liberal. When he won the governor's office in Massachusetts eight years later, Romney was still a liberal. True, he was a "moderate" for Massachusetts, but that is a liberal. Now, Romney claims that he is a true conservative. He gives speeches in which he uses conservative phrases and rhetoric. When pushed, however, Romney moves back to his liberal roots. He discusses people as being part of various classes in the way that Obama does. He calls for more government intrusion into the marketplace by things like indexing the minimum wage to inflation, something that he knows will cost jobs but which he thinks will win voters. In many respects, Romney's lack of a conservative core is why he has run such a negative campaign; he finds it easier to tear someone else down than to explain his own positions in a way that will be acceptable to the party.
And Romney has been truly negative. The avalanche of nasty, negative ads that Romney threw at Gingrich has been breathtaking in its size and complexity. While Newt certainly provided Romney with what the military calls a "target-rich environment" for negative ads, it is not enough for Romney just to slam Newt for his past activities. Romney needed to put forth a clear reason why Republicans, indeed all Americans, should vote for him. He has failed miserably in that endeavor.
For his part, Gingrich has been even worse. He has put out big ideas without a doubt; many days it is hard to keep track of just how many big ideas go whizzing by. The problem is that Newt also has no conservative core. His number one guiding principle has become clear and it is "me, me, me!!!" When Romney scored in Iowa with his attack ads, Newt did not come back with big ideas; he returned with attacks on free enterprise and Romney's success among other things. These are items that a conservative would never attack. We celebrate individual success; we do not attack it. We celebrate opportunity for all; we do not want to limit it. And above all, we do not buy into the Obama class warfare rhetoric. Newt is the petulant two year old stamping his foot and screaming NO at the Romney camp. He lost me and millions of others when he went off the deep end.
So that brings me to Rick Santorum. It makes my endorsement sound like I am picking him because he is all that is left. Well, that is not true. Santorum has demonstrated in great detail why he deserves support.
First, Rick has shown himself to be courageous and steadfast. In the early part of the campaign, Santorum was polling in the low single digits, but he kept on going. He was undeterred. He knew where he wanted to go and he kept fight for the prize even when things looked bleak. I want a president who sets goals and fights for them without getting lost in the day to day cycles on cable news.
Second, Rick has also shown himself to have clear conservative principles. Over the years, Santorum has established a voting record which illustrates his conservatism. On the campaign trail, however, he has also stuck to conservatism. Santorum never piled on when Gingrich attacked Romney's success. Quite the contrary, Rick defended Romney. Santorum understood that the recent attack by Obama on religious freedom was just that, an intrusion by the government in an area reserved to individual religions by our constitution. The debate is not about contraception; it is rather about religious freedom.
Third, Santorum understands the need for drastic economic change. With the economy still limping along, we need to remove all the barriers to growth that Obama has put in front of the economy. Santorum has expressed this view and has a program to do just that. He emphasizes a return of manufacturing jobs to the USA, something that will do more for the middle class than almost anything else imaginable.
Fourth, Santorum understands the need for total energy development. Here, he is not much different than Romney or Gingrich or even Ron Paul. This is quite different from the bizarre restrictions that Obama has placed on rational enegy development in this country, however.
Fifth, Santorum is clearly a nice guy. He is a strong family man. He is a good husband, a proud father and an honorable person. He is not full of himself. He recognizes that he has limits. In other words, he has the kind of personality that we need in the Oval Office. We already have a president who believes in his core that he is smarter than everyone else. Obama knows that his decisions are all good because he made them. It is a very dangerous situation, but one which a president Santorum would easily and quickly remedy.
The time has come for the Republican party to support Rick Santorum for president.
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