Absolutely, rf.
Newt would make a great Press Secretary or ambassador.
You're kidding, right? I like many things about Gingrich but diplomacy isn't what he's known for.
I'd like to see Gingrich in a prominent post in a Santorum administration — being VP and president of the Senate seems like a good choice, though several cabinet secretary posts would be nice too — but as an AMBASSADOR???????
We'd be at war with the verbal bombs Gingrich would throw since he'd make our enemies so mad.
On second thought... maybe we could send Gingrich as an ambassador to countries we wanted to provoke into attacking us first, and then bomb them into irrelevance.
Also, the press secretary position is one in which the press secretary has to carefully represent the President's views, not his own. Gingrich is not a team player, based on his own recent statements criticizing Santorum for being a team player. Whatever position Gingrich holds, he needs the freedom to express his own views or his major advantages are neutralized.
As I see it, that means the vice presidency with a “portfolio” of managing the Senate and deliberately trying to blow up its atmosphere of good-old-boy collegiality, just as he successfully did in his role as Speaker of the House.
I think VP Newt Gingrich has real potential. Put Gingrich to work doing what he does best — breaking up good-old-boy networks — and have him do so in the legislative arena where he has the most experience.
That could become especially important because of the collegial nature of the Senate and Santorum’s former role as a senator. Yes, I know that Santorum was part of the Gang of Seven going after government corruption in the congressional banking scandal, but it may be much more difficult for a President Rick Santorum to fight former Senate colleagues than it would be to hand that pit-bull duty over to Gingrich.
I'm well aware that the vice president in modern history has not normally presided over the Senate and his duties have largely been administrative “as assigned” tasks in the executive branch. Gingrich is not traditional in his leadership style, and especially if we don't get control of the Senate this year, I believe Gingrich could perform a valuable service by regular public fights with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, preventing Reid's agenda from gaining traction.
Good-cop bad-cop strategies can work and may play to the strengths of both Gingrich and Santorum.