Political Candidates in a Perfect World, Revisiting the Herd

For those of you who have never visited before, I live in a low population state with a late primary, Nebraska.  That means that my individual vote comes after the other states have chosen a front-runner.  I am determined to influence those who have a primary vote that matters.  Read at your own discretion.

Having previously discussed the names on the (seemingly endless) list of GOP candidates, It is now time to check back in.  Some are out already, some may not enter regardless of our wishes and prayers, others continue to be foisted on us by people who really don't understand true conservatives.

I'm going to work backwards through the above categories, and end with my perfect world assessment as of today.  New information comes to light in campaigns on an almost daily basis, so I can't say with certainty who will ultimately be the candidate to get my support.  This is how it looks to me today:

If I hear one more pundit tell me that Mitt Romney could be our best GOP candidate, I will be forced to vote for a third party.  A true conservative would never have allowed his state to oblige people of religious beliefs to provide adoption services to homosexual couples and individuals.  Nor would he institute state-run health care.  Nor would he then use his position as governor to provide waivers at his discretion.  The last action here is the worst.  It shows a kind of imperial attitude towards executive privilege that is completely unconstitutional.  No Mitt.  No republican organization gets any money from me until I'm certain it will not help Mitt.  No. No. No.

I do wish that Sarah Palin and Chris Christie would run.  They have real star power, and fairly solid records.  Palin is probably better suited to being head of the fundraising end of the GOP, and I'm concerned for her family if she runs.  Vows and vocations come before careers.  So on some level, I don't want her in the race.  Christie has some issues with being the only republican to attend a state dinner for the Chinese.  I'm sure it was a decision based on the fiscal gain he could achieve for his state, but that's a serious deal with the devil.  China's human rights violations are so perverse and pervasive, (forced abortions, ordaining 'Catholic' priests and bishops...)   his attendance at the dinner is truly problematic.

Two that I hoped for initially but could not support now are Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry.  I was listening to Dennis Miller recently and heard him deflate as he learned that Perry had been a campaign manager for Gore.  Like Dennis Miller, I could have overlooked the Gardasil vote as a mistake, but promoting Al Gore shows a real lack of insight.  Newt's out of his own accord.

So in a perfect world the remaining candidates for me fall into the following jobs, if God loves us and allows each of them to do their best:

Rick Santorum- President  (He is a man of principles and is most in line with my beliefs, see previous posts.  I trust him.  He's my choice.)
Herman Cain- Vice President or Chairman of the Federal Reserve  (As vice president he would preside over the senate and could be key in proposing reform legislation.  He's had experience on the Fed so he would be a star there.  I like him for president too, but with out political experience, he's my second choice.)
Michele Bachmann-  Speaker of the House, or Secretary of the Treasury (She's a proven organizer and should use her tax expertise where it is most needed.  I like her for president, but I think she's needed more in these other positions right now.)
Sara Palin- Chief of Staff  (Perfect for her, she knows how to run a shop!)
Chris Christie- Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board or Secretary of Education  (Enough said!!!)
Paul Ryan- Secretary of Health and Human Services (Beyond enjoying the reaction to him in this position from the left, he has the chops to streamline entitlements and get it done.  I'd vote for him for president, but he's not running.)
John  Bolton- Secretary of State  (The best foreign policy mind in the country.  And the Eastern Europeans always respect the 'stache.)
Tim Pawlenty- Secretary of Commerce  (His primary work in Minnesota was balancing the budget.)
Ron Paul- Chairman of the Fed (If Herman Cain is VP)

So there's my line-up to date.  What do you think?

Wide but not Deep?

The GOP candidates are suffering from a wealth of girth and a lack of depth.  They seem to have shallow commitment to social concerns and the debt crisis, (which is the direct result of the sin of usury), as well as an inability to stick to principles in order to win.

For example, Donald Trump. Could any true conservative take this man seriously? Maybe he could take our country safely through a bankruptcy filing.  Maybe senate approval of his nominees might be more entertaining, like the early years of The Apprentice.  That's the only value I see there.

I like Charles Krauthammer's analysis as a rule, But here:
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/265428/2012-racing-form-charles-krauthammer  
he seems more inspired by Urbane Urban Thinking than anything else.  Charles should take a field trip to the Midwest, and I don't mean Ohio.  Head into the bread (ethanol) basket of the Dakota's,  Iowa, Wyoming, and dare I say Nebraska, and I think he would find himself surrounded by people who think Romney and Gingrich are non-starters.  Let's face it, Romney is pretty, but not conservative.  Gingrich is a fountain of baggage, not ideas.  Barbour has already pulled out.

Pawlenty and Daniels are known only to news-junkies right now. And Daniels deferring of social issues is a real problem.  You see, when you abandon marriage and abortion as real issues, you increase entitlements to provide for the unmarried and Planned Parenthood.  There is a real relationship between marriage and children.  When that is broken, the society is broken.  Thinking you can fix our economy with out taking a long look at social issues is simply misguided.

I really don't hear any buzz about Sarah Palin or Mike Huckabee from anyone on the street.  They have their place, helping to form and motivate the base, but they are not presidential.

Krauthammer misses some good potential candidates.  Herman Cain would be a a great president.  He understands that at this point, religion and economics are foreign policy.  Paul Ryan and Chris Christie seem to understand that as well.  Maybe even Michele Bachmann understands that.

I want to offer a candidate who is completely off of anyone's radar.  Senator Mike Johanns of Nebraska has been a Governor, Secretary of Agriculture, and a staunch conservative for his entire career.  He is a very likable guy.  He has foreign policy experience.  He is solid as the day is long.  Bob Kerry was almost nominated on the Dem side years ago.

We may be only a fly-over state to some, but Johanns is worth recruiting.

I've met him in person.  He called my son to follow-up on a letter from my home-schooled boy.  I asked questions of him about articles I had read that day, and he had read them too.  This man is top-notch, trustworthy, calm, capable and experienced.

He is deep.  The rest are just wide.