I like Michele Bachmann's conservative record. She is a very good Congresswoman. However, Michele Bachmann's ill-advised run for POTUS was truly a major obstruction to nominating a non-Romney conservative in the 2012 GOP primary. Mitt had to love Michele's 'not ready for prime time' campaign as it diluted support from other more realistic competitors. She also was the first to launch meaningless attacks on other conservatives (but not Mitt) in a vain attempt to stay relevant in the campaign. She was shrill, overplayed meaningless differences and was as responsible as any of the candidates for leaving us with Romney. IMHO.
I agree. We need her in congress, but she was absolutely a negative drain on the primary process. She, as you said, was not ready for prime time, and she rarely mentioned Obama - focusing instead on intramural food fights. She wasn’t the only one who did that, but she was part of it.