Politically speaking, there aren’t many things more frustrating than vetting a sizable field of presidential primary candidates in an effort to isolate a viable champion for the GOP only to discover that no one candidate emerges unscathed and unblemished from the process. Every one of them has stellar qualities that, to one degree or another, are offset by inexperience, peccadilloes, idiosyncrasies or personal baggage that leave us observers wondering if any of them will be able to pull the presidential sword from the stone.
We end up pining for a science fiction solution that offers the possibility of herding all the candidates into a matter/energy scrambler and teleporter and then recombining all the best and most desirable qualities from each of them into a single person who appears on the teleporter pad when the process is finished, ready to trounce Obama next November in a landslide of epic proportions.
Can you imagine what such a machine could have done back in 2008? Recall that the top tier candidates were John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Fred Thompson. Now picture the scene: we herd these five men into the teleporter and program the computer to isolate the following from the matter matrix and recombine it into a single person:
- Mitt Romney’s good looks, perfect hair and pleasing baritone voice;
- John McCain’s war record and stubborn refusal to accept earmarks for his state;
- Mike Huckabee’s wit, silver tongue, sense of humor and musical ability;
- Ron Paul’s enmity toward the Fed and insistence on the rule of Constitutional law;
- Fred Thompson’s gravitas and level-headed Reagan conservatism.
Now imagine such a machine today: we herd Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Ron Paul, Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum into the teleporter and program the computer to isolate the following from the matter matrix and recombine it into a single person:
- Herman Cain’s physical form (after all, as Ann Coulter noted, “our blacks are better than their blacks”), private sector resume and Reaganite impulse;
- Mitt Romney’s pleasing baritone voice;
- Rick Perry’s gubernatorial experience and service in the military;
- Newt Gingrich’s powerful intellect and government experience;
- Ron Paul’s enmity toward the Fed and insistence on the rule of Constitutional law;
- Michele Bachmann’s profound understanding of the U.S. tax code;
- Rick Santorum’s unswerving conservatism on social issues.
The 2012 election would be over before it began the moment our candidate stepped off the teleporter pad.
Unfortunately,the matter/energy scrambler and teleporter remains a creature of science fiction and we the GOP base are left to choose from among the available candidates – each of whom has clearly defined strengths and clearly established weaknesses.
How, then, are we to make a decision regarding the candidate best qualified to be the GOP nominee? How much of our hair must be torn out by the roots before we finally make up our minds?
The answer is: none. Not a single hair…not a single follicle. You need only answer two questions:
- Are the candidate’s strengths pervasive and deeply rooted in his or her character or do they lie more in what the candidate has accomplished?
- Are the candidate’s weaknesses pervasive and deeply rooted in his or her character or are they easily remedied by counsel and instruction?
It really is just that simple and I will be the first to say what I know so many others are thinking: I’d sooner rally behind a man of integrity and profound private sector experience who is nevertheless a political neophyte with a tenuous – but easily remedied – grasp of history and politics than I would a man of questionable integrity who can, without batting an eyelash, respond that the president of Uzbekistan is Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
Thus do I continue to stand by Herman Cain and my choice for the GOP presidential nomination.
