Posted on 05/20/2016 6:30:35 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Sen. Ted Cruz and his most determined supporters are likely still licking their wounds and mending their broken hearts. Such a sudden end to his primary campaign for president has left marks that will heal but slowly.
Soon, though, Cruz will see that he has come through the hurricane of his first presidential campaign with his prospects enhanced, rather than retarded. We hope that knowledge gives him confidence and patience to reconsider his approach to the job he is returning to, as the junior senator from Texas. That’s the work, after all, that Texas voters singled him out for in 2012.
We’d like to recommend two courses of action as Cruz considers his immediate future, and begins to mull whether — or how soon — he’ll try again to become president.
We don’t offer these suggestions because we, too, mourn his defeat. He was not our candidate. But he is our senator, and we believe he’d gain much if he learned to be a good one. We think these suggestions will make him a stronger, more capable public servant and more attractive candidate no matter how high his ambitions soar.
First, become the second senator Texas needs. Cruz did not arrive in the Senate in 2013 with the goal of being a good senator. His goal, as his fellow Texan Sen. John Cornyn remarked recently, was to run for president, a goal he took further than nearly anyone anticipated. At 45, he may well run again someday. But for now, his focus and his efforts belong to the Senate.
Instead of using his high office as a perch and a platform, he should use it as a tool to pass good bills that help Texans and to block bad ones.
He has a model nearby. Sen. John Cornyn can be as partisan as the next senator, and often his job as deputy leader requires it. But along the way he has steadfastly worked to advance legislation — sometimes compromising and sometimes not — aimed at making life better for people who count on him to help. From criminal justice reform, to advancing the nomination of our ambassador to Mexico, to the Justice for Victims of Sex Trafficking Act, Cornyn has worked hard at being a good legislator.
Cruz should pick his own priorities and then go to work building bipartisan relationships on Capitol Hill so he can pass his own laws. Such a path will require humility. Like it or not, success as a senator will require allies.
Come 2018, he may just be able to offer Texas voters something he’s not yet been able to — a record of achievement, measured in what he has done for Texas and not just what he has done for his ambition.
Secondly, we recognize that Cruz’s ambitions will continue to stretch beyond the Senate. And we suspect he’ll continue to be voice of protest against the White House, no matter who wins November. But we urge him to broaden his appeal beyond the evangelical voters he initially promised would make him president. If he cannot, his path to the White House will never get any easier than it was in 2016. And his influence on history will remain small.
This will require profound introspection. Cruz and his allies may be tempted to see in his near-miss reasons aplenty to continue again in the same vein. But for Donald Trump, they will counsel, this path might have succeeded!
That’s a seductive falsehood. Trump did him favors this time around, clearing out all the better-known GOP rivals early on. Cruz shrewdly stayed on the sidelines, waiting for Trump to implode. That never happened, and by the time he engaged with Trump, it was too late. Trump was too strong and Cruz, having built no bridges beyond the evangelical camp, found himself stranded on his own island.
By broadening his base, and developing a track record in the senate, Cruz can grow in stature between now and the next time he runs for president. But whether he ever wins that higher office, he owes it to Texas to do a better job in the office he already holds.
In time, Cruz will be just another tear-in-my-beer country western song...
Soon, though, Cruz will see that he has come through the hurricane of his first presidential campaign with his prospects enhanced, rather than retarded.
Rather than retarTed. I apologize in advance.
Right now, hard time call for hard measures. Ted isn't the man for the times.
‘Retarded’.....interesting word choice.
Lol
Heck, that’s way harsh!
The advice is generally good, but it’s good for ANY Senator.
Damn. How did I miss that? LOL
Trump/Cruz in 2016
We have to defeat the Marxists/globalists this time or America is over. We can’t have Cruz supporters staying home by the millions on election night we need their vote to
Vote for the Wall, fortress America , vote for Freedom , a return to the 1900’s when America grew!
I think that Ted Cruz is presidential material.
Just as Cruz upped Trump's game. I think that Trump upped Cruz's game.
Maybe in 2020 or 2024, Ted Cruz will get the handoff to enable him to run the ball into the endzone for us conservatives.
“But whether he ever wins that higher office, he owes it to Texas to do a better job in the office he already holds.”
Exactly right.
Oh that poor, poor thing...how could anyone be so sad???
He had no desire to be a Senator of any State, or he would have acted like one...did he represent the Great State of Texas? No, he did everything he could to get recognized so he could run for President, I guess he seen Barky do it, so why not him? Well once bitten, you know???
We aren’t that stupid to see what he was doing...and yes I feel for the people that laid everything on the line for him, it’s gotta hurt like all get out...but next time VET your candidate, research, dig and find out things then you won’t be so disappointed when you find out they only think of themselves...
Is Trump perfect, absolutely not, but he is Trump, he made Trump, he does what Trump does and he’s the only one that will take out Trump....said by Rush Limbaugh...
There are going to be things he does and says that I won’t agree with, but I do know he loves America and the American People and Thank Goodness for that!!!
“Right now, hard time call for hard measures. Ted isn’t the man for the times.”
I agree. Well said.
Ted Cruz can do a good job of helping ‘right’ the nation right now where he is (senator) and can be a big help and support to Trump.
P.S. The only problem for Ted is that Heidi is likely very upset she won’t get to be a First Lady, and I bet Ted won’t be allowed in the house any more.
“Trump upped Cruz’s game.”
This I disagree with. Trump destroyed Cruz’s campaign strategy by denying him the southern delegates and after that Cruz floundered desperately.
Hopefully he learned a lot and will have a superior game in future though.
“Instead of using his high office as a perch and a platform, he should use it as a tool to pass good bills that help Texans and to block bad ones.”
Our Governor, Scott Walker (R, WI...and one helluva guy) found that out the hard way, too. He’s paying off his campaign debts one used t-shirt sale at at time.
I’d like to know WHO gets a hold of these men and tells them that THEY are the Second Coming and their time is NOW!
(Those people should be shot.)
SERVE in the JOB you’ve been ELECTED to. And if you’re ANY GOOD AT IT, We The People will ‘promote’ you to a higher office in the future.
Get over yourselves, already!
This would require friends and allies in the Senate and I'm not sure Cruz has any. He burned a lot of bridges.
In the end, he had lost the evangelicals. He was left with the Mormons and the Jewish neoCons.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.