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Gov. Chris Christie is officially not a candidate.
But the recent dance he has been doing with the Republican Party and its donors says quite a bit about the dissatisfaction that exists within the GOP with the motley crew that has been chasing the nomination.
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| Photo Tim Larsen, Governor’s Office |
The front-runners remain Mitt Romney, whose career has taken him all over the political map and who was rejected by the GOP in 2008, and the absolutely loony Texan Rick Perry. Herman Cain, Michelle Bachman, Ron Paul and the long list of minor players, continue to chase the brass ring, as well.
My question is this: Does it matter? Can any of these guys beat the incumbent at a time when the incumbent is vulnerable? And if they can, shouldn’t that scare the hell out of us?
Barack Obama’s spotty record and his continuation of Bush policies on torture and the terror war have left him without a real base and have deflated the enthusiasm that swept him into office in 2008. He has earned our dissatisfaction and anger and probably should be facing a primary challenge from someone like Russ Feingold.
The protests on Wall Street are as much a reaction to the Obama presidency as they are to Wall Street greed — Obama, like Bush and Clinton before him, has colluded with the big banks and financial firms to save them from serious regulation or reform.
But my prediction is that the prospects of a Perry or Romney presidency ultimately will draw enough liberals to the polls to allow Obama to squeak by and win a second term. Do not underestimate how much of a motivating factor fear can be.
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- Read poetry at The Subterranean.
- Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
- Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
Hank Kalet 