Cain, Perry, and Romney

We are moving closer to deciding who the Republican standard bearer will be in the November 2012 presidential election.  It looks like it is coming down to Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, and maybe Rick Perry.  Although I can find fault with a few things about each of these candidates, I think that it is a pretty good field.  Right now, all of the political insiders are betting on Mitt Romney even though Herman Cain is rising fast in the polls.  It appears that Mr. Cain is benefiting in direct relationship to Mr. Perry's slippage in the polls.  As such, he is being touted as the non-Romney candidate of the moment.  These same pundits are pointing out that, although Mr. Cain has a number of attractive strengths, he is perceived to be less appealing to the independent voter.  For this reason, they believe that, at the end of the day, Mr. Romney will be nominated as the Republican candidate.

Assuming that Mr. Romney is selected, we can be certain that the Democratic Party will attack him vigorously.  That is as it should be in our political system and I welcome it as a way to more thoroughly understand who he is and how he handles himself in rough waters.  After all, Mr. Romney is asking to take on the most difficult job in the world.  If he can not deal successfully with the likes of Messrs. Obama and Axelrod, how in the world will he be able to contend with people like Grand Ayatollah Khamenei and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?  A great deal will be made of Romneycare and the fact that he has changed his mind on a lot of fundamental issues.  His much touted reputation as a job-creator will be challenged with statistics showing that he fired people and sent work overseas.  Underlying it all will be the whisper campaign contending that his religion is nothing more than a cult.  I already recognize that all of the candidates are imperfect so very little of this is going to shock me.  If George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were to be in the field it could rightly be pointed out that they held slaves.  There are no perfect people running for political office in this country.

Another theme that is starting to appear in press stories is that many liberals are so disenchanted with President Obama that they intend to sit the next election out and not vote for anyone.  Hardcore Republicans hope that this will happen because it will make their victory in 2012 easier to accomplish.  I confess that I am so convinced that we much replace Mr. Obama that I will also welcome a liberal boycott of the polls, but we must all recognize that it is not a good thing when a significant percentage of the public opts out of the political process.  Great disagreement within the public on fundamental issues is divisive and that weakens us as a nation.  Disagreement is not, in and of itself, dangerous.  In fact, it is healthy, but prolonged fundamental disagreement on issues such as those now plaguing America can destroy us.  I usually vote Republican because I am fiscally conservative, but I believe that what this country needs is a president that can govern from the center.  For many of my friends that makes me a RINO.  My friends are probably correct.  I vote for the people and policies that I think that we need at the moment.  No party owns my vote.  Right now, this country needs an economic course correction.  I will vote conservative to obtain that, but I will not swallow everything or anything that conservatives want to do just because I voted Republican this time around.