Politics As Usual

It's distressing to note just how far conservatives seeking the presidency have to move to the right from the reasonable center to attract enough support from their base to have a chance to win primary support. Today I heard an NPR piece on the attention Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana was getting from conservatives. What's getting him the attention is the pragmatism and grown-up content of his speeches. The NPR piece said,
"Conservative commentators in the mainstream media have called Daniels thoughtful, serious, principled and honest — and some of them have literally begged him to run. Daniels has thrilled conservative elites because of his record in Indiana, where he walked the walk on fiscal responsibility, streamlining state government and turning a deficit into a surplus. And six years before Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker attempted it, Daniels ended collective bargaining for public sector workers in his state. But more than anything else, Daniels' current cachet comes from a single speech — his address to the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, last month. The speech has been called the most intellectually compelling conservative call to arms in years. His No. 1 topic: the deficit."
Here's a short piece from that speech, "It is the new Red Menace, this time consisting of ink," he said. "We can debate its origins endlessly and search for villains on ideological grounds, but the reality is pure arithmetic. No enterprise, small or large, public or private, can remain self-governing, let alone successful, so deeply in hock to others as we are about to be."

Unfortunately, in many aspects of society, especially politics, it seems those who speak truths do not fare well. So it is unlikely that Governor Daniels will go far should he decide to seek the Republican nomination. At least he has injected a rare moment of realism and reasonableness into the debate.

Like the fellow who went to watch a fight only to see a hockey match break out, I recall in past campaigns hearing moments of candor and reason as well as positions I liked among conservative candidates. John McCain called hardcore evangelicals "agents of intolerance". That was during the primary battle with George W. Bush. In the most recent election he embraced those same "agents of intolerance" on the road to abandoning the moderate positions that made him a "maverick". In the 2008 campaign Mike Huckabee refreshingly said, "I'm a conservative but I'm not mad at anybody". He's now advocating the death penalty for whoever leaked the information in the Wikileaks situation. I've had great admiration for Newt Gingrich in the past. I didn't care for his antics in the mid-90s when leading the Republican majority in the House but in subsequent years I heard a lot of very sensible proposals from him and became a fan of sorts. Now, in full campaign mode, I don't recognize the politician whose ideas I so admired.

In the current Tea Partyish hate-fest that infuses the political debate, any hint of compromise or allowances that an opponent might have a reasonable point is the kiss of death to political ambitions. This may be gratifying to the political bases of the candidates but as they are pulled to the extremes of left or right meaningful solutions are left near that mythical middle ground. And we are then guaranteed partisan politics that further divide us. And on it goes.