Saturday, November 19, 2011

ENTER THE GIANT

ENTER THE GIANT


No one is ever going to accuse me of being a humble guy. The fact is that I like to think I am pretty bright. I have however, recently been involved in trying to figure out whom in the Republican field would be best to take on Barak Obama and rescue us from this four year nightmare that started out as a light, pleasant, dream. In that search, I have quite literally stumbled over a man whose intellect, passion and drive I find almost frightening – Newt Gingrich.

Newt is not the best looking guy (person) in the field. Truth be told, he would not be movie cast in the roll of POTUS (Obama would be). He doesn’t have the great hair and looks of Perry and Romney, the elegant stature of Michelle Bachman, or the instant likeability of Herman Cain. In fact, Newt has kind of a devilish smile that is a little off-putting. Unfortunately, some people will actually make their voting decisions based on this type of criteria (the OWS types if they make it to the polls at all). Most of us however are looking for a little more depth in our candidate. After four years of witnessing a man pretending to be President, most of us would like to have someone in office that can actually DO the job as opposed to sucking up the perks and voting “present” whenever possible. Not even Newt’s worst detractors can claim that he is unqualified to be President of the United States. In truth, one could not ask for a better resume. But resumes aside, just listening to him speak extemporaneously, at length, without a teleprompter, is a thing of pure beauty. Newt is the kind of a guy who gets bigger and better looking the longer you listen to him.

Quite by accident, I happened to catch the current President and one of the Republican candidates (separately) on TV News immediately after having listened to Newt speaking in Iowa. It was at that moment that it struck me hard, that Newt is not only the best candidate in the field, he is a giant among children. Having just listened to Newt give his extemporaneous remarks with regard to the direction of the country, I was aghast at the shallowness and political hackery of both the President and the Republican candidate. The difference was stark and easy to define – Newt was talking from his heart, without fear, as to what he knew and believed, and from his experience as to how best to accomplish the necessary ends. The other folks were just saying what they believed they needed to say to curry the most favor. The contrast was as stunning and shocking as if I had just learned that I had been accepting financial advice from my 10 year old son.

It was also then that I realized why Newt has now come to forefront of the Republican nomination process. Republicans didn’t want Romney in 2008 and they really don’t want him now (this is why he cannot get above 25% in the polls), but he does at least look the part and he can speak without stumbling over every other word. However, seventy five percent (75%) of Republicans want somebody else. Newt is not the first person to whom they gravitated because, as stated above, he doesn’t look so good from far away and then there’s all that baggage. Note that Newt did not enter the race with the immediate high poll number of Romney, Perry or Bachman and he got off to a poor start. However, as Republicans started looking closer at their candidates, those who looked good from far often were far from good up close (Perry being the poster child for unfulfilled expectations). Unsatisfied with the shiny, new, heretofore unheard of candidates, Newt got a second look. Low and behold, the frumpy old guy (no insult intended) with all the baggage looks much better up close than he does from far away.

Newt is not a man who is going to embarrass you in a debate or be easily demonized as “stupid,” as is always done to Republican Presidential candidates. Having written over twenty books on the issues of the day, he has full command of the issues and an uncanny ability to articulate them. Having been two-heartbeats from the Presidency as Speaker of the House, there are few who can claim a better understanding of the workings of Washington. Having actually accomplished things in the Congress he has had his baptism of fire and come out stronger for it. Interestingly, those who would now criticize Newt for having had the courage of his convictions during his time in Congress (and thereby having made some enemies), are the same people who lament the cowardly reluctance of the existing Congress to do anything politically provocative.

Newt is not just smart (Romney and Obama are both smart in their own ways), he is both visionary and able to transform vision into reality. When I think of our founding fathers, I have difficulty placing any of our recent Presidents in their company (save perhaps Reagan). I can quite easily, however, visualize Newt among the members of the Continental Congress debating and forging the new Constitution. Somehow, I have great difficulty putting Barak Obama or Mitt Romney in that setting. One need only watch Newt lecture on the issue of the day to see a man who stands above others with his vision and intellect. He is a giant of our time.

Republicans now realize that while it’s good to have hair (and Newt’s isn’t bad), it’s even better when you have something under it.