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One Cheer For Rick Santorum

One Cheer For Rick Santorum

Last updated on: May 28, 2015 at 11:00 am by John Mark N. Reynolds

One Cheer For Rick Santorum 2015-05-27T23:37:48-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

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Santorum is running again for President though polls do not yet realize it and voters may never do so. If I had to list my primary preferences, like most Republicans, Rick Santorum would be the emergency pick. If a plague of Biblical proportions strikes the GOP crowd, leaving only Donald Trump, Chris Christie, and Rick Santorum, then I am all in for Rick, though if Zombie Reagan shows up to run in the Plague Year, I would reconsider.

I would vote for Senator Santorum against Secretary Clinton, but any Republican who lost my general election vote against the graft ridden Clinton is named Trump.

Nice Guys finish Second

Santorum is deluding himself by playing the historical patterns: second place Republicans win nominations.

Rick Santorum parlayed not being Mitt Romney into second place in the 2012 Republican primaries proving those who endure to the end will get little or nothing in politics. Republicans often nominate the “next guy” (McCain, Romney), but generally this has happened when the race did not look winnable. Bob Dole and John McCain each got the dubious honor of running in races where the GOP nominee was as likely to win as Walter Mondale against Ronald Reagan. Let’s call that the “gold watch nomination” where a party lion gets the nod to honor his years of service.

Both John Kerry and Mitt Romney got the nominations against weakened incumbents in years where a perfect campaign might have won. Both lost fairly narrow races against the incumbent, but losing in politics is like losing the Super Bowl: a pathway to obscurity. William Jennings Bryan ran and lost three times and the Buffalo Bills lost the Super Bowl four times in a row so that each could fill the line of the guy or team that got beaten by the winner. Poor Dewey is now reduced to the guy that beat Truman in the headline only to lose in reality . . . he has almost no other cultural legacy.

If nothing else shows that Clinton is beatable, the size and depth of the Republican field proves it. Many smart politicians are betting that if they do not run this time, next time (four long years!) they will see an incumbent Republican running for a second term. The GOP administration will produce new stars and new issues so if you can raise the money now, you have nothing to lose in running. Carter and Clinton both prove that fairly obscure people can win in the right year.

Rick Santorum has the earnestness of Carter, but without his electoral and executive success. He is the opposite of Bill Clinton: the lovable rogue. Instead, Rick Santorum is the irritating angel, so straight he leans a little.

And yet for a Christian interested in politics, Rick Santorum has three things going for him that might produce at least a cheer in the GOP primaries.

Santorum is willing to state his beliefs and run on them: win or lose. He is not poll driven or he might still be a senator from Pennsylvania. While losing is not itself a virtue, losing for your ideals does produce a profile of courage. Santorum is a social, economic, and foreign policy conservative in the Reagan mold and was willing (for the most part) to act like it in Washington. His stands for marriage and human life have made him powerful enemies who have bullied him and his family.

Santorum is brave, but Walker has been at least as courageous in governing and Walker has won. No cheer for Santorum here.

Senator Santorum also cares about the average worker (what used to be called the “lunch pail” vote and now might be the microwaved leftover vote) in ways that few other candidates articulate well. Santorum knows that the GOP lost the 2012 race in part because the autoworkers of Ohio did not hear Mitt Romney talking to their needs. Santorum is not going to make that mistake and a winning GOP candidate will emulate him.

A Christian cannot vote for a Presidential candidate who does not address the concerns of the working class, the poor, and the weak.

Santorum revives GOP Teddy Roosevelt concerns for the worker, but so does Mike Huckabee. Santorum communicates anxiety, Huckabee exudes concern and optimism. Even more challenging for both Santorum and Huckabee, Marco Rubio talks to the microwave worker without the baggage both carry. No cheer for Santorum here.

Rick Santorum deserves a solid cheer for one aspect of campaigning that is deeply Christian and unique. Santorum is no respecter of persons. I once watched Santorum in a room of “big shots” and I have never seen a man spend more time with the “little people” than Rick Santorum. He seemed interested in what we had to say (even if he had heard it all before) and open to ideas. Santorum also treated the “workers” (waitstaff) in the room with dignity. This does not seem like much, but it was a characteristic Mitt Romney had that other Republicans should develop.

Too many of our candidates talk as if they care about conservatives, but act like aristocrats when they show up at an event. This attitude of entitlement, so strong in Secretary Clinton as to make her appearance monarchical, is odious in a republic. Everyone can learn from Rick when it comes to caring about the average voter.

Rick Santorum has no good reason to be running for President. He has few values other candidates do not support better than he does. He is a decent, honorable man whose time in elected office has passed. I would hope any Republican President could find room for Santorum in an administration in a job like Health and Human Services.

He should not be running, will not win, but here is one cheer for Rick Santorum.

——-

This continues my series on the potential candidates. Previous posts include: Clinton, Huckabee, Carson.

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