Will Romney Be The Next, Great GOP Hope?



The battlefield has been cleared after the rout. The fruited plains drink deep the blood of fallen GOP boy-soldiers. Like the broken French line at Agincourt, the Republican party now faces the full measure of their defeat. The prevailing mood is one of empurpled melancholy (The Corsair pours himself a glass of port). Boozy Hoosier R. Emmet Tyrell not too long ago coined the term "Crack Up," and ever-after it has been used for both parties as the moment, post-Presidential campaign, when introspection after electoral defeat causes the losing party to fray at the edges. Today that refers to the Republicans, post-McCain.

The question on everyones lips in Washington, after the speculation of who gets what spoils in an Obama administration, is: Who will be the standard-bearer of the GOP torch. Right now, it could be argued, Rush Limbaugh is "the man." He reaches 10 million strong conservatives who briskly jog in place, red-cheeked, at the ready for their marching orders and talking points (".. give us this day our Daily Bread"). But where was Rush Limbaugh during the GOP primary? His failure of leadership is one of the least reported stories in the conservative press.

Limbaugh hated McCain during the Republican primary. He even did an adolescent impression of the Senator -- he was aiming after comedy, but came off as beyond peevish. Listening to Limbaugh during that period -- and The Corsair did, as an editor at FishbowlNY covering the media -- it was clear that El Rushbo hated McCain more than he was pro-anyone else, creating a vaccum that the McCain, as the most experienced candidate in a hierarchical party, won. Second only to Limbaugh's visceral distaste for Senator McCain was his classist disgust at former Governor Mike Huckabee. Limbaugh regaled leaders with tales of Huckabee frying squirrels to eat at a less-tan top drawer University. His positively acid dressing of Huckabee's fried squirrel sounded not unlike a socialite at a country club, circa 1950 (Imagine the Limbaughian sour-face!). Had Limbaugh heroically fought through his congenital negativity ("to stand athwart History yelling stop") and endorsed Mitt Romney, it could have been an entirely difficult political game. But Limbaugh's bile won out and McCain, damaged, was forced to pick Governor Palin to motivate his base. And the rest, post-Courick interview and economic crisis, is history ..

Huckabee is seen by some as a contender. We don't see it that way, though. Sure, Huckabee is a charming countrified soul, waifish even. But speculation of a future President Huckabee administration is all for naught, because: 1) Huckabee wants to become a millionaire, and 2) he only stokes the fires of a possible candidacy to leverage his value in the media. Even when Huckabee ran this cycle, he seemed more of a vanity candidate -- a la fellow Reverend Al Sharpton -- interested only in getting his name out there, driving up speaking fees. Heck, Huckabee even took high profile gigs while on his off days in the campaign. And when, in the hour of the wolf, his campaign logically out to have unleashed Cain on the McCain campaign, he instead engaged in a quixotic two-on-one against Mitt Romney, helping the Arizona Senator secure the nomination. Does that sound like a pol with fire in the belly, or a man tired of being poor, looking after a future on Fox television and, possibly, terrestrial radio.

Of course, the election of Barack Obama to the Presidency could signal a generational shift that hurts anyone running over 50. That could be a boon to Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. But Jindal comes from a region that is already firmly Republican, which would give him a large hurdle to clear around the country. His extreme social conservatism notwithstanding, if Louisiana prospers in the wake of Katrina -- and that remains to be seen -- he may have an argument on effectiveness. Boring Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is as exciting to watch as plant photosynthesis. Governor Schwarzenegger, an exciting Presidential prospect to be sure, is barred by the Constitution (but that could change via amendment). And "Jebby's" got the whole Bush family baggage to contend with.

And then there is the unlikely case of Sarah Palin. The Governor of Alaska also has the chops -- if she wants it -- to become a media star, a white Oprah, a "Whoprah," if you will. But it doesn't seem as if she has made the decision yet. Right now Palin seems intent on clearing her name, shaking off the Quayle (tar and) feathers. As a hierarchical party, the Governor will have frontrunner status should she decide to run in 2012. Sarah Palin also has the backing of traditional conservatives and the Pat Buchanan wing of the party, who like her warrior woman cult-of-fertility archetype peddling. But she will have a lot to overcome. A "second sailing" would force Palin to up her game, show that she has overcome the learning curve of foreign policy. Nothing about Sarah Palin suggests that she has the chops to master the geoplitics of the next age of internationalism.

That brings us to Mitt Romney. Romney exudes competence, which is not a Republican strong point. That works in his favor. He is also, arguably, the most experienced -- and successful -- businessman on the political stage. His triumphant internationalism is forever linked to his deft anti-corruption chairmanship of the 2002 Winter Olympic games. His speech at the Republican Convention was a welcome, Reaganesque break from the general hue of angry-white-rhetoric that they had going on in Minnesota. And clearly Romney is interested, as his "spreading the wealth" in Georgia suggests. And his matinee idol good looks and clean family living make him appear almost more Reagan than Reagan. And appearance, as Reagan would tell you, is everything.

As Obama has shown us, it's the temperament stupid. Ironically, John McCain wrote a book called "Character is Destiny" only to find on the fly that he was wholly incorrect: Temperament is Destiny. In order to bring the multiple streams of modern conservatism into confluence -- the paleocons, the neocons, the anti-abortionists, the libertarians and the Reagan Democrats -- as well as make inroads among Hispanics and African-Americans and suburban women and Jews, we have to leave the mundane realm of politics and enter into the more mysterios science of Psychology.

And among all the Republicans left standing, Mitt Romney thus far presents the most likely personality profile for the virtue of competitiveness.