2012

I received an e-mail this morning from Newt Gingrich along with probably tens of thousands of others. It begins with Newt saying that since I am one of his closest supporters, he wanted to tell me personally that he is considering running for president. It made me laugh. I wonder how many people received such an e-mail and actully thought "Wow! I am one of his closest supporters!" The utter nonsense of it all was quite funny. I have seen Gingrich speak in person and found him quite impressive. I also signed up to be on the mailing list of American Solutions, the think tank/PAC that Gingrich has headed for the last few years. If that makes me one of his closest supporters, then Newt should probably throw in the towel now; he has no chance.

Then I read an article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in shich David Shribman compares the GOP wanting Mitch Daniels to run with the same party wanting Eisenhower to run in 1952. Excuse me? Eisenhower had headed the entire Allied effort on in the European theater of war during WWII. He commanded millions of men and launched a series of the most complex military operations known to man. He kept the various allies working together, not just on the field, but at headquarters as well. He was a national hero of the sort we no longer have in this country, a man universally believed to be extremely competent. And Eisenhower had the background to handle the Korean War, one of the key issues of the day. And Shribman thinks that Daniels is much the same? Daniels was a corporate office, a congressman, Budget Director for George Bush and governor of Indiana. My guess is that less than ten percent of Americans could recognize him from his picture. Most would not know his name. Indeed, a majority still would not know who he is were you to tell them that he is governor of Indiana. He is not a hero; he is more like an accountant. As Budget Director he did not win a great war or a great battle; he lost both. the Bush deficit went up dramatically (of course, nothing like the Obama deficit).

I guess Daniels is like Eisenhower much in the same way that I am one of Next Gingrich's closest supporters.