Have you heard of Jon Huntsman? He is the only Republican presidential candidate with both integrity and sense. That's probably the reason he's not on many people's radar screens. Being sensible doesn't get you very far in the world of Republican primaries, just ask Mitt Romney, a modern day Talleyrand who has made a career out of abandoning his principles and his good ideas when it suits him best.
Apparently, Huntsman has some company. Mitch Daniels, the Republican governor of Indiana, has been speaking recently as though he has some sense. Said Daniels, "Purity in martyrdom is for suicide bombers. I for one have no interest in standing in the wreckage of our republic saying, 'I told you so' or 'You should have done it my way.' We should distinguish carefully skepticism about big government from contempt for all government."
Wow. That's the most impressive thing I've heard from a Republican in quite a while. Sounds to me like the kind of guy who could sit down with members of the opposing party and make some magic happen, which, in Washington, simply means doing your job. If Mitch Daniels were the Speaker of the House we may have actually enacted necessary policy in the last nine eleven months.
Of course, Mitch Daniels is not running for president, leaving me to hope that the Republican who emerges to challenge President Obama is either Jon Huntsman or someone who is so extreme that he or she is unelectable - in other words, anyone but Mitt Romney.
Nevertheless, the reality of today's Republican party not only reflects the sad state of the nation and that political party in particular, but is a harbinger for our country's future. I spend a lot of time knocking the Republican party and rightfully so, but it's not because all of their ideas are bad, it's because the party has been hijacked by a group of extremists and because they refuse to work with Democrats to enact meaningful policy. That extremism is so deeply rooted in the modern Republican movement that the party is willing to lead the nation to the brink of default to score an ideological victory. In fact, in the last three years Republicans have run away from what should be one of their greatest achievements. Obamneycare, as Tim Pawlenty termed it, is a Republican idea. Want to score a political victory? Work with the president to perfect the healthcare law and then trumpet how it was built on Republican proposals and ideas. What did Republicans do instead? Created some bunk about death panels. This is the direction the Republican party has gone; this is the reason that America is a nation with a broken political system and a slow-moving economy (and I won't even get into how and why Republicans are responsible for that).
Nevertheless, the party is not devoid of good ideas. Sadly, they are devoid of leadership and too many of them are living in a dream world. It seems like the Mitch Daniels and the Jon Huntmans of the world may be able to get the party back on track, but sadly, they are drowned out by the circus that is today's Republican party. Dear Mitch Daniels, please do America a favor and take control of your party. The nation needs it.
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