If they're both up to it, I'd love to hear what my cousin Ken and friend Kenny think of Mike Huckabee. They had an interesting discussion about Mitt Romney earlier, and I'm going to milk these guys for opinions on as many candidates as they'll give me.
Remember, Nevada voters - the presidential caucus process happens in mid-January this year. That's just a month away.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
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For me, Gov. Huckabee really brings up one major question: how does my being pro-life factor into my preference for a presidential candidate? Gov. Huckabee and I are of a piece on the pro-life issues, but I’m not too impressed with some of his economic and social program proposals. Meanwhile, I’m wildly enthusiastic about Sen. Obama at a personality level (and by that I mean his broad intellect and inspired idealism), but he’s pro-choice which is a big problem for me.
But focusing on Gov. Huckabee for the purpose of this blog post, I am impressed with his discussion of the role of God in his campaign. In a recent interview I saw him say he attributes his recent surge in the polls to prayer, but he denied that God wants him to be President. He said he doesn’t know who God wants to be president, and he doesn’t even know that God has a preference. He even said maybe God wants one of his opponents to be president. I thought this showed a good amount of faith, humility, and theological nuance.
I’m not impressed with his grasp of certain economic issues. He cites tort reform as one of the ways he’ll reform health care, but my law school education leads me to believe that tort reform is a non-issue. He wants to give tax credits to people so they can get their own health care, but I think this idea is based on questionable premises and application of both economics (the ‘rational actor’) and political ethics (‘individual responsibility’). He wants to get rid of income tax altogether; I don’t know how to begin evaluating the merits of this idea, but it seems radical, and if you want to do something radical, you better be right, and unfortunately his discussion of these other issues hasn’t convinced me that he knows what he’s talking about. Also, the conglomeration of these issues suggest a kind of cliché Republican platform which suggests to me a lack of independent thought (I’m not saying other candidates on either side of the aisle are at all immune from this same criticism).
One thing I do like about his are the things that he was recently criticized by Gov. Romney for: namely for wanting to provide scholarships to the children of illegal immigrants. His statement was basically “I think we’re too good of a nation to punish children for what their parents have done.” Now this is a bold, independent moral, thought, and if I could be led to believe that more of that type of thinking could infect his other positions, I could very well vote for him.
For what it's worth, I'm planning on bringing up Sen. Obama on the next installment of this. Then, probablly Sen. Clinton. So stockpile your thoughts.
I believe Mike Huckabee and Satan are brothers :)
I'll write more later :)
"For me, Gov. Huckabee really brings up one major question: how does my being pro-life factor into my preference for a presidential candidate?"
Kenny - I'm curious why you say this about Huckabee, but not Romney.
Because I'm not interested in Gov. Romney on other grounds; I still just think he's kind of a hair-do. But, in accordance with my previous discussions with Ken (doesn't he believe he's Satan's brother? ;), I'm trying to be open to thinking of him otherwise (although as of yet I haven't seen anything that really changed my opinion about him). But I think Gov. Romney would probably be a decent pro-life candidate, although his history of position changes make you wonder just a bit.
I'm not a tax policy expert, but, as Huckabee would say, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express. That said Huckabee's tax proposals are pie-in-the-sky. Congress is as likely to colonize Mars as it is to switch from income taxation to consumption taxation.
Even if it was feasible, I don't think it's even a good idea. It's not going to make the IRS go away. It is just going to transform it into a different creature. So the idea that he is going to "abolish" the IRS is a farce.
His tax record is mixed. Some say he was terrible, others say he was OK. I'm not sure.
All in all, he doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in me.
I'd take Huckabee over Guiliani any day of the week, by the way. It is refreshing that many Americans still deeply care about social issues and matters of faith.
One thing that concerns me is that Huckabee's got an alarmingly lengthy list of ethical peccadilloes. While none of them appear to be all that serious, I get the impression that he plays a little fast and loose with the rules, or, at the least, is a little careless. I don't like that.
I don't think Huck is a bad guy. Quite the opposite, I think he is a really good guy, and he was a decent governor. But I don't see him nearly as disciplined, structured, or organized as Romney.
Sorry I'm doing this kind of piecemeal. I'm writing in between chores.
I agree with Ken's comments on Huckabee. I would take him over Giuliani. I dislike Giuliani for the same reason I like Obama, basically personality and vision. Giuliani's persona just doesn't resonate with me at all, but I don't know anything about his policy positions.
Miscellaneous stream-of-consciousness closing thoughts:
All and all, my biggest problem with Huckabee is that Romney is better prepared to handle the rigors of the presidency. I know this post isn't about Romney, but it's all relative, so it is relevant.
I love Romney's analytical, data-driven approach. I think his approach hurts him on the campaign trail because he has to give rather concise answers to very complicated data-sensitive questions. Huckabee may be a more charismatic speaker, but I think Romney is more prepared when the tire hits the road (and Romney is a very competent debater and speaker--both are far better than Pres. Bush). In the end, I am more interested in the guy who appears to have the greater ability to grasp the complexities of the gargantuan moster that is the U.S. government and economy. I'm not as interested in the guy who may talk a good game, but hasn't necessarily demonstrated he can do the job. Romney's analytical acumen is better suited to cope with health-care, entitlements, national debt, international trade, ect.
I think Romney's academic record (BYU valedictorian, near top of class in Harvard Law and Harvard MBA) is notable. Academics isn't everything, but I think it shows (1) Romney has the intellectual horsepower to comprehend areas of law and economics relevant to the presidency, and matches up favorably with Obama, who is also academically gifted, and (2) Romney's successful in his own right, not just because of his privileged upbringing. Huckabee's Ouachita State Bible Studies undergrad degree doesn't stack up as favorably (although in fairness, he was also near the top of his class, as well).
School isn't everything, but it is a factor.
Romney's record only reflects success. I think a president's ability to organize and supervise his cabinet and other executive agencies, as well as to efficiently gather information from such agencies, is underrated.
I think it is one of Pres. Bush's greatest weaknesses right now--it seems like every agency is running their own program without any control from the top.
Romney is perfectly suited for the task. It's what he's done professionally, and he's done it well in every setting (business, Olymipcs, governorship, campaign).
I think it is very significant that Romney's campaign is largely regarded as extremely organized and well-run--possibly one of the best-run ever. While I appreciate Huckabee's loaves and fishes analogy with the results of his campaign verses the resources, his campaign is just not very well run or organized. If he can't well organize a campaign, why is his presidency going to be any different?
Few things scare me more than that our current lack of fiscal responsibility. Romney has taken large deficits in every setting in which he has led and has converted it to a surplus. He turned a $3 billion deficit in Mass. into a $450 million surplus. He put the Olympics in the black when they were deep in the red. Heck, his business ventures were centered on taking struggling business and making them profitable.
His approach is what I feel America needs. What has Huckabee done that is comparable?
I think he and Huckabee are a wash on immigration. I think they both represent approximately the same viewpoint, after looking past the distinctions that have been abundantly pointed out.
I'll vigorously resist any notion that Romney has been evasive and Huckabee has been forthright. Huckabee has had his fair share of evasive moments on a variety of issues. I'm not saying Romney's perfect and I'm not saying Huckabee's horrible, but to say that Huckabee is more honest than other candidates is total farce.
I'm not going to address the repeated attempts by subordinates in Huckabee's campaign who have attempted to play the religion card, except to say that I do think that Huckabee has been the beneficiary of the "thank goodness we didn't have to vote for a Mormon" demographic. Like I've said before, Romney's reputation as an insincere flip-flopper, I believe, is a largely undeserved label attached as a pretext for people uncomfortable confronting the idea of voting for a "non-Christian".
Romney's got impeccable character. Huckabee's a good guy too. All things being equal, I think Romney's got more
. . . to offer.
P.S., I know the religion issue hasn't been a factor with the readers of this blog. I'm just saying it has played a factor in Huckabee's rise.
I'm going to have to do a take-back on everything nice I've said about Huckabee. The more I watch him, the more I realize he is a disingenuous schmuck.
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