2008 Woodie Awards
Next president must be strong on substance
Dan O'Gara
Issue date: 11/30/07 Section: OpEd Page
Polls out this week from the crucial election state of Iowa show that former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is running only four points behind the creepily perfect Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney. Despite the fact that Romney's plastic features and corny family pictures make me want to cringe, I find the fact that Mike Huckabee could potentially be a serious contender for the Republican nomination far more troubling. Why, you might ask, should there be such concern about a man that the majority of the country knows nothing about and has heretofore never been considered a serious threat to the to the leading Republican troika of Giuliani, Romney and McCain?
The simple answer is that there is probably no reason for concern; the primary season has not even begun yet and Huckabee (along with all the other candidates) is light years away from the Republican nomination. Dig a little deeper, however, and I believe that Huckabee's sudden rise should be a significant source of concern for this country. By all accounts, Huckabee is a great guy.
The Economist points out that he used Chuck Norris in his campaign video (who doesn't love Chuck Norris?), played bass guitar with a high school band during a campaign stop and has worked hard for his success-including a highly publicized diet that saw him shed 100 pounds. He also appeals to the Republican Party's power base-evangelicals or "values voters"-with his ability to quote Scripture from his days as a Baptist minister.
The problem is: Haven't we seen this all before? A candidate who captures the conservative base with his charm and personality despite no foreign policy experience and goes on to win the Republican nomination? Oh yea, it's the guy sitting in the Oval Office right now, sporting some of the lowest approval ratings of all time. That's not to say that Mike Huckabee is the next George W. Bush, but this time around shouldn't we go out of our way to make sure we elect a president with serious foreign policy credentials?
The simple answer is that there is probably no reason for concern; the primary season has not even begun yet and Huckabee (along with all the other candidates) is light years away from the Republican nomination. Dig a little deeper, however, and I believe that Huckabee's sudden rise should be a significant source of concern for this country. By all accounts, Huckabee is a great guy.
The Economist points out that he used Chuck Norris in his campaign video (who doesn't love Chuck Norris?), played bass guitar with a high school band during a campaign stop and has worked hard for his success-including a highly publicized diet that saw him shed 100 pounds. He also appeals to the Republican Party's power base-evangelicals or "values voters"-with his ability to quote Scripture from his days as a Baptist minister.
The problem is: Haven't we seen this all before? A candidate who captures the conservative base with his charm and personality despite no foreign policy experience and goes on to win the Republican nomination? Oh yea, it's the guy sitting in the Oval Office right now, sporting some of the lowest approval ratings of all time. That's not to say that Mike Huckabee is the next George W. Bush, but this time around shouldn't we go out of our way to make sure we elect a president with serious foreign policy credentials?
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