Conservative Confusion

A lot has happened politically in the last month that I have not been able to comment on here. The election landscape has changed quite dramatically, with McCain coming from behind; Giuliani, Thompson and Edwards dropping out, Huckabee showing poor performances in relationship to his Iowa win and Romney sitting about where he has been sitting the whole time—with something good but not much of it. For all practical purposes, the race on both sides has been reduced to duels: Romney verse McCain and Hilary Clinton verses Obama (excluding a possible Huckabee win in the South). On the Republican side of the ticket, 3 days out from “Super Tuesday,” I find myself very confused and unsure of whom to support, and wavering between positions faster then Bill Clinton himself.

Admittedly, I have not been one to get excited in this election. None of the candidates thrill me, and the only one I was reasonably happy with (although not very optimistic about) was Fred Thompson, who has since quit the campaign (too soon in my view, but probably the right move). Unless I jump on the Ron Paul wagon (which I really don’t want to do) I have three options: Romney, McCain or Huckabee; none of whom I fully trust or support. My support is purely symbolic however, as I cannot vote in my state’s upcoming caucus while attending school in another distant state. This fact alone has at times made me apathetic to whoever wins, since I am a party man and will support whomever the GOP selects.

But assuming I had some say in the matter, I wouldn’t know quite where to begin. McCain, I’ve always had problems with, and still do. He is a man who has his ideas and sticks with them, but I usually don’t agree with them and frequently don’t find them conservative. His years in the Senate have given him many years demonstrate some of his awful ideas, including the infamous McCain-Feingold election campaign laws and a failed immigration plan. He is a strong leader however, someone who isn’t afraid to go out on his own (only if its beneficial of course) and who people like to follow. I think on the Iraqi war his position is about as good as we can hope for, and I won’t have trouble sleeping at night with him in the Oval Office like I would with Barack or Huckabee. I can vote for him if I have to, I still have much more in common with him then I do any of the Democratic candidates, but he is definitely not my first choice.

Romney is someone whom I have always been okay supporting, a fallback candidate who can get the job done. But I’m not exciting about him or his campaign. It seems like he is trying to win the election by appealing to a Reagan coalition that doesn’t exist anymore. He is pro-business and pro-life, but shall the two groups meet? Christians are suspicious of his flip-flops over social issues, businessmen think he wasn’t pro-business enough while he was Governor of Massachusetts. In short, he comes up mediocre in all areas but still manages to remain acceptable, offer little but a lack of offense. I can’t get excited for him, nor can anyone else based off his only fair performance so far. People seem to be looking for someone else, some going to John McCain (seniors) and others to Huckabee (Christians) leaving Romney with some fiscal conservatives and Mormons. What’s more, I don’t know if he can win in a national election against Hilary or Obama—his campaign has run very conservative in some areas (especially immigration) and will have a hard time reaching out to the coveted moderate vote.

Huckabee is someone that I haven’t been able to get my head around. On the one hand, he is a nice, likeable guy with excellent communication skills and a knack to getting straight to what people are concerned about. On the other hand, his campaign is disorganized, his foreign policy is lacking, and many of his domestic ideas seem only half-baked (the Fair Tax for instance) and definitely not conservative. Now, in many ways he could be my perfect candidate: a Christian who takes a softer view of things, who isn’t afraid to think outside the box when necessary. But when he does go off the beaten path, he takes directions that I find difficult to accept, from health care to a seemingly contradictory foreign policy platform. He seems so right, but yet so wrong. What’s more, I am fairly convinced that (a) Mike Huckabee cannot win a national campaign, and (b) his candidacy would destroy what remains of the Republican Party. George W. Bush won with Evangelical support, but lost support from more traditional elements of the party in doing so, and another candidate in the same vein may well be the final straw that breaks the elephants back.

What to do? Wait for the primaries to be over and support the last man standing, or select the least offensive candidate and try to get him elected so I may have a small margin of discomfort? Neither seems very appealing at the moment, and I will likely have fewer options after this Tuesday. I vainly hope they are good ones.