The State Of Affairs

Tuesday begins the eleven month long political marathon for our nation. Well, to be truthful, the political marathon started early in 2011 with the first candidates announcing they are running for president. Already, two of the original announcers have dropped out and after Tuesday I suspect a couple more will do so. At least I hope that is the case after the Iowa caucuses. Of the four true conservative candidates running, it would be helpful if three of them would drop out so that they would not be splitting up that bloc of votes.

While it is true that in comparison to our sitting president any of the remaining Republican candidates looks conservative, those of us who espouse real conservatism understand the differences in the remaining candidates. However, if we listen to the pollsters, the candidate has already been selected, that being Mitt Romney. Since I am writing this on Sunday before Iowa votes, I can say with assurance that no one knows how that vote will turn out. Personally, I don't think it matters much, since the winner in Iowa has rarely been the eventual nominee of the party, insofar as Republicans are concerned. I have been watching this very closely and I am predicting that the surprise of the Iowa voting will be Senator Rick Santorum. While he may not win it, I believe he will be in the top three, which will be enough to keep him in the race. I think Governor Rick Perry will come in somewhere close to the top three, also, which will serve him well as he makes his way to South Carolina, where he expects to do well.

Frankly, I wish Perry was one of those who would drop out. I do not believe he inspires confidence among Republicans, confidence that he could stand toe to toe with the president in a debate forum. Perry has a great personal story and a great leadership story, but he has made too many gaffs to be considered a viable candidate. Of course, they said the same thing about G.W. Bush, and he made it to the top. Whatever one thinks of Bush, he managed to get himself elected twice in close races.

Others who should drop out are Michelle Bachman (whom I think a lot of), and John Hunstman (who looks great, but just has no traction). Bachman may drop out after Iowa, but Huntsman will wait until after New Hampshire to make a decision. Neither of them will be able to beat Gingrich or Perry in the south. Perry will stay in until after South Carolina, where, if he does not do well, he will probably bow out.

It is looking more and more likely that America will have to decide if they can vote for a Mormon. Judging from the national public relations campaign being waged by the Mormons on television these days, it appears the church is gearing up to offer support to Romney in the election. Those Mormon ads are terrific. They make Mormons look much more appealing than some of our brothers would have us believe.

Whomever the Republican candidate is will have a hard row to hoe against the president. The president will have the largest war chest in history to promote his candidacy. If fund raising were the standard, he would be the greatest president of all time, because whatever else he does, he can raise money. His problem is he can also spend it, especially if it is not his own. He has increased our national debt more than all other U.S. presidents in history put together. T make matters worse he is financing that spending with money from China. So now the greatest threat to our security is not China's military, which is great enough, but the fear that they will soon own so much of our debt that they could foreclose on us at any time, virtually destroying our economy. In what universe does that make any sense at all?

From where I stand, four more years of that kind of presidential leadership is extremely undesirable. Our economic woes are beyond what this president has the knowledge to cure. His Harvard professor approach to the presidency is too much to bear. We do indeed need a change.