Posted on 03/03/2011 11:04:50 AM PST by 6ft2inhighheelshoes
Contrary to some inside-the-beltway sentiment, Newt Gingrich should be taken seriously not only as a GOP candidate for president but as someone who could actually win the White House in 2012. While no one potential Republican candidate has a lock on the GOP nomination, many party members are beginning to seriously consider Newt Gingrich this week as he announces his presidential exploratory committee and are contemplating whether he can defeat Barack Obama.
In any presidential primary, party members traditionally look for someone not only who can carry the party mantle but who can potentially win. Many feel that Gingrich’s time has passed and can’t win because of certain perceived weaknesses. Yet these people have either forgotten his previous accomplishments or have clearly underestimated the man himself.
Newt Gingrich is by far one of the most important and brilliant pubic officials America has ever produced. He had a 20-year career in the US House of Representatives rising through the Republican ranks to become one of the most powerful Speakers of the House in US history. He is credited for the 1994 Republican Revolution taking over both houses of congress – the first time in 40 years, writing the Contracts with America, balancing the federal budget, passing monumental welfare reform, and was able to unify the fractious post-Reagan conservative movement to usher in a new generation of conservative leaders and activists.
For a Republican to win the GOP presidential nomination they typically must appeal and win over the three primary groups of the conservative movement – fiscal, social, and national security conservatives. On a policy level, there is no doubt Gingrich has much appeal to all three and could potentially unify them, even if loosely held together.
While some might have forgotten, Newt has a strong fiscal record leading the battle to balance the federal budget and reform welfare in the mid-90s – probably the two greatest achievements of the 1994 Republican Revolution. Out of all the potential candidates, other than Sarah Palin, Newt has been a prolific Tea Party supporter and could appeal to those voters, contrary to some other candidates who’ve shied away from publicly being linked to them. This would most certainly give him a leg up over the competition as these voters were the engine behind the GOP wins last year
When it comes to national security, Newt has more credibility than most of his counterparts. He has been a vociferous leader in the War on Terror, presently teaches at the National Defense University, serves on the Terrorism Task Force on the Council on Foreign Relations, and has published extensively on American foreign policy and military affairs.
No doubt that Gingrich’s greatest obstacle will be to win over the social conservatives. He will have to explain his personal foibles and perceived fumbling of the Republican Revolution in the late-90s, detailed in the Esquire hit-piece that ran last August. Yet throughout his public career he has supported conservative positions on social issues, has vociferously spoken about the need for “Rediscovering God in America,” and recently converted to Catholicism. While these actions on his part may not fully satiate this crowd, his congressional voting record, published works, and public statements of personal remorse may help convince enough social conservatives, however imperfect, Gingrich is on their side.
Since his departure from congress twelve years ago, Gingrich has reinvented himself as a modern conservative sage of sorts. Newt would no doubt have a personal arsenal of grassroots activists, think tanks, and donors cultivated over the years at his disposal, jokingly dubbed “Newt Inc.” The indefatigable Gingrich has also travelled across the country over the years giving hundreds of speeches displaying his dizzying intellect and endless idea-factory of public policy prescriptions. Inspiring and exciting thousands of conservative activists Newt can legitimately claim a national following – something many of the other candidates cannot.
At a minimum, most believe he would raise the level of debate in the GOP primary race, if not run circles around Barack Obama in a head-to-head contest. While the country tried its hand with a fresh face in 2008, the country may be inclined to support an elder statesman this time around.
What might really separate Gingrich though from the other GOP hopefuls is that out of all the candidates he’s the one who best articulates the conservative message in a time of American drift. When America is in need of clarity of purpose and confident and experienced leadership, Newt has spent the better part of a decade thoughtfully prescribing solutions for America’s ills and has articulately argued for an American renewal of its “First Principles” – a sentiment whose time has come after recent years.
As a history professor, Newt is well aware of American history, including his own. In 1962, no one thought Richard Nixon would ever win public office again. In 1976, many thought Reagan was done with. In 2000, no one thought Al Gore would amount to much after the 2000 presidential election. Is it possible that Gingrich has analyzed his own history, learned the lessons from the 1990s, and can have his own political comeback in 2012? Perhaps the wiser more disciplined Gingrich of today can do what he once miraculously did – unite a fractious conservative movement and fulfill a new contract with America.
Christopher N. Malagisi is the Lead Administrator of the Draft Newt Gingrich for President (2012) Facebook fan page (http://tinyurl.com/draftnewt), is President of the Young Conservatives Coalition, a National Review Institute Washington Fellow, and an Adjunct Professor at American University teaching conservative movement history.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/opinion-zone/2011/03/dont-underestimate-newt-gingrich#ixzz1FZ3TyTGp
Not getting my vote!!
You gave us Barry. Thanks a lot.
Like I said, Newt is the dream candidate.......for the left.
Anybody who doesn't see and acknowledge that as fact is ignorant of how he was run out of town when he was Speaker of the House.....
You do the same when you learn one tenth of what I know about human nature......
> You gave us Barry. Thanks a lot.
Yes, and thanks for quoting me out of context. How sanctimoniously pompous of you.
What I said was, “I’d rather have Barry driving us into the dirt in broad daylight than Newt doing it in the smokey back rooms.”
And for your information, I DID NOT GIVE YOU BARRY! I voted for the RINO-in-chief, McPain, in the last election. I doubt that things would be a whole lot better with that clown at the helm “reaching across the aisle” capitulating to my sworn enemies than with Barry who is my sworn enemy out in the open.
I suppose when it comes to morals and family values, he’s going to love answering questions about serving divorce papers on his wife while she was being treated for cancer
Newt Gingrich: the Bill Clinton of the GOP (except that Bill didn’t divorce Hillary to marry his mistress...).
It will be the same for anyone that announces, over and over again. Every one has baggage. Huck is a minister, Romney is a Mormon, Palin is a cheerleader (nothing more), etc.
Conservatives must get behind someone, Newt will take it to Obama in a smart way. Besides, I don’t think baggage will be any big deal this time around - people want out of this mess and Newt has what it takes to do just that.
Unfortunately, conservatives even here can’t agree on any one candidate. It’s sad.
Just might be that some of us are old enough to remember how Newt was run out of town when he was Speaker and know that his nomination will only be a repeat of that episode on steroids. Many of us realize the Contract with America and how it fell flat after he was elected. We also saw him sit on the couch and nuzzle up with San Fran Nan supporting the Liberal agenda of anthropogenic Globull Warming. Now, what was it you were saying about Newt taking it to Obama in a "smart way"?
Newt REALLY has baggage for being a Republican. He's a dirtbag of a husband...a cheater. I don't hang around people like that in my personal life, and I don't want to vote for one.
Hah! LOL!!!
Again, IMHO, it's foolish to deprive our cause of the good that could come from having him in the debates and on the campaign trail because we don't like him personally. His presence in the mix would make others really have to mind their p’s and q’s when it comes to knowing what makes America, and voters, tick.
Noot lost me at Scozzafava.
Sorry. No sale.
I didn't quote you out of context.
LLS
I proudly stand with you and against newt.
LLS
> I didn’t quote you out of context.
Then why did you leave off the rest of the sentence?
That would make you a liar.
Unless you are logically challenged, you knew perfectly what I was trying to say, but decided to separate my words from their context to put them in the worst possible light.
That’s fine, I’ll vote for him to cancel out your vote.
Newt is still on our possibility list and yes, we know about his 3 marriages and it's certainly a minus, but we can't find Jesus, yet, and any of our flawed candidates are far better than Obama.
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