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What to look for in the next president
Washington Examiner ^ | 1/2/2015 | Staff

Posted on 01/03/2015 3:49:17 AM PST by HomerBohn

With 2015 upon us, presidential candidates will begin the quadrennial ritual of crisscrossing the early primary states to make their electoral cases to voters. We aren’t going to pick favorites this early, before we even know who might enter the race, but it's a good moment to adumbrate principles that will guide us as we evaluate contenders.

First and foremost, we will look for a candidate with a demonstrated commitment to protecting and expanding freedom by limiting and reducing the burdens that Washington places on the ability of individuals to live their lives as they choose.

We hope the successful candidate will have a record of fighting to reduce the size and scope of government when it comes to taxes, spending, and regulation. He or she should support returning many decisions to state and local governments, which are more directly accountable to citizens.

Republicans often say they support such goals but don't show it once they've won office. For a good part of the George W. Bush presidency, Republicans controlled Congress as well as the White House. Yet, between 2001 and 2008, annual spending soared from $1.9 trillion to $3 trillion. After starting out with the idea of reforming America’s broken education system, Republicans augmented federal power with the ham-handed No Child Left Behind law.

Instead of reforming unsustainable programs, they added to our fiscal jeopardy by passing the largest expansion of entitlements since President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society with the Medicare prescription drug law. This is why we say attractive Republican candidates will have demonstrated their commitment to trimming government rather than just talking about it.

One of the defining failures of the Obama presidency has been an unwillingness to stand up for American values abroad. To his liberal admirers, Obama is a thoughtful leader who recognizes nuances in matters of state and can see things from multiple perspectives. In April 2009, a few months after taking office, he famously declared in Strasbourg, France, “I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.”

Obama presumably thought this a clever formulation. But if everyone is special, no one is really. And the president's dismal implication was that he didn't think there was anything objectively special about America. We hope the next president approaches global affairs with a better understanding of the nation's unique and beneficial role on the world stage, not with the distant cool of a relativist who treats all perspectives as equally valid.

The president should be an advocate for American interests and the principles on which it was founded. All candidates vying to succeed Obama should recognize this crucial role of the presidency. He or she will not weakly apologize for America but will project strength and repeatedly make the case for our rock solid ideals. Any worthy presidential candidate will also go beyond the ideals and beyond their opposition to Obama. They will offer voters a serious agenda.

Let us see policy prescriptions — and let the campaigning begin.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:
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Don't look for anything that's good for America to come sailing out of the White Hut. That's to be expected when you have a psychotic boy playing like he's the president. He makes it all up as he goes along and that results in a nation that has a big sign painted on it that says 'Bomb Us. We're Nincompoops!'.

The next President should be completely normal and not be a four flushing parasite. He should have two main qualities: military experience, and business experience That would provide money and tax experience that would help to reduce or eliminate the massive debt that is destroying our country. I pray that the choices that we have for the future elections have those qualities and not just someone like Hillary, Warren, Bush or Romney: who likes to get in front of a camera.

1 posted on 01/03/2015 3:49:17 AM PST by HomerBohn
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To: HomerBohn

Avoid anything the Democraps push and anything the RINOs push and we should be OK.


2 posted on 01/03/2015 3:53:33 AM PST by GrandJediMasterYoda (Obama: 7 acts of blatant treason and counting.)
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To: HomerBohn
It would be nice to see an election without candidates with NBC problems like the last two elections.

None of em had a clear NBC status, and that is NOT coincidence! It was planned so 0dunghill would have an excuse.

Thank you Dhimocrats and Rhinocrats.

HIll and Jeb, Jeb and Hill~ "What's the Difference?"

3 posted on 01/03/2015 4:14:55 AM PST by rawcatslyentist (Jeremiah 50:32 "The arrogant one will stumble and fall ; / ?)
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To: HomerBohn

Since a “community organizer” from Kenya has worked out so well I’m thinking maybe we should be looking for a dog catcher from Uranus!


4 posted on 01/03/2015 4:20:31 AM PST by The Duke
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To: rawcatslyentist

From the get go, it sounds like the authors are describing Cruz. Problem is, there are too many long term rinos that will block his nomination.


5 posted on 01/03/2015 4:21:50 AM PST by DaveA37
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To: The Duke

Since he did so well, why not his tranny wife?


6 posted on 01/03/2015 4:27:02 AM PST by rawcatslyentist (Jeremiah 50:32 "The arrogant one will stumble and fall ; / ?)
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To: HomerBohn
The president should be an advocate for American interests and the principles on which it was founded.

There have been many candidates that both espoused and promised such. The problem is that they were lying through their clenched teeth with a smile on their lips.

Democrats simply will not tell you what they really want to do, and establishment Republicans may tell you what you want to hear but always have been eager to stab the American people in their backs on the way to their rationalization of why the have to do it.

To my mind, Cruz is the only candidate that would do what he says. And that is why MSM, Democrats and establishment Republicans hate him so.

7 posted on 01/03/2015 4:32:10 AM PST by Gaffer
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To: The Duke

A shoeshine boy from Chattanooga will work out just nicely as long as he has an eighth grade education.


8 posted on 01/03/2015 4:32:26 AM PST by HomerBohn ( I love the women's movement, especially walking behind it.)
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To: GrandJediMasterYoda

Integrity, honor, moral compass,love of country, patriotism, intelligence, vision and everything else we dont have now.


9 posted on 01/03/2015 4:46:43 AM PST by ronnie raygun (Empty head empty suit = arrogant little bastard)
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To: HomerBohn

And whoever the next Presidental Republican canidate is needs to have experience governing. No congress critters.

In the end, I do not care which politician is the candidate as long as they are Republican - our monster, our devil - as they all turn out to be. Else there will be a continuation of socialist rule and the socialist agenda to destroy the US.

Nit picking because someone does not match an individual’s criteria, and using those nits as an excuse not to vote, is to vote for continued socialist rule. There is no perfect candidate, not now, not ever.

There is absolutely no way that conservatism will win the day as long as erstwhile conservatives abstain from voting as they have in the past two Presidential elections. There is not a prayer that judgeships are given to conservatives by allowing a socialist to win the Presidency by default.


10 posted on 01/03/2015 4:48:28 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: DaveA37

I thought they were describing Walker, someone who’s actually done it and with stiff Democrat opposition. He’s won three times in socialist heaven aka Wisconsin.


11 posted on 01/03/2015 5:06:24 AM PST by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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To: rawcatslyentist
I believe Michael LaVaughn Robinson is at least eligible for the position, unlike his husband.
12 posted on 01/03/2015 6:00:31 AM PST by ASA Vet (Don't assume Shahanshah Obama will allow another election.)
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To: HomerBohn
Anyone with the principles of these men:



13 posted on 01/03/2015 6:28:01 AM PST by Slyfox (To put on the mind of George Washington read ALL of Deuteronomy 28, then read his Farewell Address)
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To: HomerBohn
First and foremost, we will look for a candidate with a demonstrated commitment to protecting and expanding freedom by limiting and reducing the burdens that Washington places on...

But what we get is a feminist Democrat. The Republicans will nominate a pleasant Statist who will then take a fall for the Election.

14 posted on 01/03/2015 6:35:58 AM PST by arthurus
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To: Gaffer
The Sultan told us what he really wanted to do from the beginning. He wanted to Transform America. He has worked hard at doing just that. He has succeeded to a terrifying extent.
15 posted on 01/03/2015 6:38:44 AM PST by arthurus
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To: arthurus
Yes, he did. But it was in the context of a Senator talking to “his” people and simpatico liberals. As the formal campaign coalesced, all of this transitioned to ‘hope and change’.
16 posted on 01/03/2015 6:45:42 AM PST by Gaffer
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To: HomerBohn

I’m not so sure there will be another president.


17 posted on 01/03/2015 6:48:02 AM PST by Old Yeller (Civil rights are for civilized people.)
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To: HomerBohn

“What to look for in the next president”

No need to look beyond TED CRUZ!


18 posted on 01/03/2015 6:48:10 AM PST by kenmcg
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To: HomerBohn
He's got my vote.


19 posted on 01/03/2015 6:49:52 AM PST by Caipirabob (Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
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To: HomerBohn

What America needs is simple.

America needs a president who supports bringing back, American jobs.


20 posted on 01/03/2015 6:50:24 AM PST by Cringing Negativism Network (http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html)
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