So you think you want to be a Republican candidate

Less than six months ago, as a soundly shellacked Barack Obama reeled from the blowback of midterm elections, it seemed Americans were very much in the mood for a new president.

But after a winter of even deeper discontent, the anticipated parade of Republican contenders to take on Obama in 2012 is conspicuously absent.

Then, as now, there is no shortage of maybes. But even as the political lines of battle take shape and Obama sets out, as he did this week, on the first fundraisers to amass what could be a billion-dollar war chest for re-election, not a single Republican has declared candidacy for the White House.

The Republican 2012 race remains all paddock and no gate — a scenario that has enabled the wildest, most entertaining horses to steal whatever thunder exists thus far. But that is expected to change very quickly now, as a field of possible candidates ranging from very likely to utterly ludicrous hits crunch time. Here, from the sideshows to the serious, are the faces we know so far, in no particular order:

DONALD TRUMP — “Sideshow Don,” as the New York Daily News dubbed him in a page one takeout showing Trump in hilarious clown makeup, knows well the Republican road to the White Houses passes through the Tea Party. And the populist tone of his almost daily self-aggrandizing tirades — the world is walking all over us, China is “ripping us off” — now has him hovering at or near the top of every flash poll.

But in almost single-handedly reviving the widely discredited “birther” conspiracy that holds Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii, Trump appears to have painted himself into a political corner where one is more likely to find tinfoil hats than thoughtful discourse on how to remake America.

Trump’s biggest fans include White House itself, which relishes framing November 2012 as a contest of Sobriety vs. Sideshow. And cable news, which is feasting on The Donald’s media-savvy dalliance with destiny.

Washington insiders giggle when they hear Trump’s name — not a chance, say they. But if nothing else, Trump’s Manhattan-sized ego comes with deep pockets. And he doesn’t need the approval of Washington to empty them in pursuit of the prize. However unlikely, an actual Trump candidacy would offer the ultimate test of the famous H.L. Mencken quote that “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”

SARAH PALIN — The former Alaska governor seems somehow on a fast track to “whatever-happened-to” territory, though few can agree quite why. Still very much a Tea Party darling, the Mama Grizzly-in-Chief has been tumbling in the polls of likely Republican voters and her every Tweet is not an automatic headline anymore, as is was just a few months ago.

One theory: American television has room for only a single sideshow at a time, and the reality-TV-star-as-White-House-wannabe niche currently belongs to Trump.

Don’t expect Palin to vanish. Whether or not she declares, Palin will remain one of the strongest crowd-pulling firebrands in American conservatism. If she stays on the sidelines, as many now expect, her endorsement will remain a prize for everyone else seeking the Republican nomination, if not the election itself.

MITT ROMNEY — Déja vu? The former Massachusetts governor, who gave John McCain a run for his money in 2008, is pretty much a certainty to try again in 2012. He all but laid his marker down this week, announcing the formation of a “presidential exploratory committee” and posting an online video hailing “freedom and opportunity and the principles of our Constitution that have led us to become the greatest nation in the history of the Earth.”

Widely seen as a moderate fiscal conservative with mainstream business cred, Romney has name recognition and could offer crucial independent swing voters a middle-ground option to Obama, especially as the American mood shifts toward who can be trusted to downsize the debt-wracked federal government.

But getting there from here will be daunting for Romney, whose faith (Mormon) is a concern for some in the deeply conservative Bible belt. Added baggage this time around is the fact that much of the 2012 rhetoric will pivot on Team Obama’s controversial health care reform — a debate that would require political gymnastics from Romney, who as governor signed off on a similar “RomneyCare” reforms in Massachusetts.

RICK SANTORUM — A former Pennsylvania senator, Santorum has also announced an exploratory committee. If he jumps in after all the water-testing, watch for a more solidly — and socially — conservative approach from Santorum, who voices strong opposition to abortion and gay marriage.

Santorum’s announcement Thursday began with the words “It’s time for America to be America again” — a phrase that liberal political bloggers at ThinkProgress made hay with immediately, noting the words were coined in 1938 by poet Langston Hughes, a well known advocate of gay rights.

Though far from an obvious frontrunner, Santorum’s role in a Republican nomination race could be to steer the debate to the right, satisfying the party’s conservative base and raising the pressure on more centrist candidates to show where they really stand.

MICHELLE BACHMANN — Pushing the debate right, as Santorum might do, seems a certainty for Minnesota Republican Bachmann, another Tea Party favourite. But Bachmann’s water-testing comes with a twist — she vowed this week that if elected, she would serve only a single term. “I’m a principled reformer and my goal is to see the country turn around,” Bachmann told the Des Moines Register. “I’m also committed to being a one-term president if that’s what it takes in order to turn things around, because this is not about personal ambition.”

Known for hard-right views and a take-no-prisoners style, Bachmann seems to have stolen some of Palin’s thunder with increasingly fiery attacks on Obama. But her oeuvre includes the occasional self-imploding broadside, such the praise she lavished in January upon America’s founding fathers for their role in abolishing slavery — praise that missed reality by a century.

TIM PAWLENTY — Widely seen as a serious contender, Pawlenty was for eight years Republican governor in liberal-leaning Minnesota, a feat that speaks to the sort of broad appeal one expects will be required of anyone hoping to dislodge Obama from the White House in 2012.

The first to formally announce the ritual of an exploratory committee, Pawlenty has since ramped up his effort, hiring staff and tacking to the right as a hardline budget hawk, including speaking engagements at Tea Party rallies on the theme of fiscal discipline.

On that front, Pawlenty can point to his own record in Minnesota, where he fulfilled promises to balance the state’s budget without raising taxes, albeit with cuts that resulted in driving up the cost of public college tuition.

HALEY BARBOUR — In a move the Boston Globe described as “about as subtle as a howitzer,” this Mississippi governor marched into (the early primary state of) New Hampshire and in consummate good-ole-boy style went straight for the guns.

Riley’s Gun Shop in the town of Hooksett, to be precise, where Barbour on Thursday regaled reporters with his affection for firearms. He observed that Obama’s inauguration sparked immediate fears among gun owners of new control legislation — “We saw an enormous increase in ammunition sales, literally, the next day.”

Barbour’s potential candidacy is dogged by persistent criticism of his former role as a Washington mega-lobbyist, where he represented several major drug companies. But Barbour counters that after winning the governorship he went on to bite the hand that once fed him, expanding the use of generic drugs to treat Mississippians on Medicaid. “The patients are fine, everybody is happy — except some of my former clients,” Barbour said this week in a speech on Capitol Hill.

JON HUNTSMAN — The former Utah governor leaves his job as America’s ambassador to China at the end of April, clearing the way for a potential White House run. He is regarded as a serious thinker with a unique vantage into Obama’s world as one of the few Republicans to have worked with the administration, on a file as crucial as China, no less.

But insider ties could cut both ways, according to The Daily Caller, which this week unearthed a trove of what it calls Huntsman’s “love letters” to Obama. Among other sweet nothings, one 2009 note to the president evidently has Huntsman writing, “You are a remarkable leader” and “it has been a great honour getting to know you.”

Just what are the qualities that we, as conservatives, want in a candidate?

My most important would be a desire and willingness to remove crooks from government, regardless of their political stripe.

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the Republican opposition to the "birthers" stems not from a belief that Barack Obama is legitimate, but because of a fear that he isn't. If people believe Barack Obama to be legitimate, they won't worry about whether Congress upheld its duty to vet him. On the other hand, if people believe that Barack Obama is illegitimate, they would almost certainly come to recognize that Congress was grossly derelict in its duty to check his qualifications. For the rule of law to be upheld, the majority of Congress would have to resign in disgrace. A lot of people would rather muddle along under a possibly-illegitimate President than face the upheavals that would follow his exposure.

I understand Republicans' unwillingness to pursue such issues, but that doesn't mean I regard it as acceptable. As sure as night follows day, appeasing evil begets more evil. There's no way for the country to get out of its situation nicely, but continuing to appease evil won't create any better way for tomorrow. Instead, continued appeasement will make recovery even more difficult than it would have had to be.

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.