Filed under *Republican Flavor of the Week*.
The GOP is a leadership wasteland.
Finally, a detractor with something intelligent to say! Yes, the GOP is abhorrent at leadership, and at finding leaders. (True leaders simply step up, but the GOP seems convinced that they must be the King-makers... because if they're not, they know they'll be seen as even more useless than they already are now).
However, Daniels is not a terrible choice.
1 .He's exceptional on fiscal policy (being Bush's OMB Director is seen as a negative by many, those were the budgets of the Bush Administration and Bush's GOP Congress. The OMB Director is not responsible for creating the budgets. Indiana's budgets, for which he is directly responsible, are among the best in the US)
2. He does NOT put social issues on the back burner, as some mischaracterize. He pointed out that fiscal issues are MUCH more urgent right now, nothing more. And, even while getting castigated for that poor choice of words, he got a tough immigration bill passed, and defunded Planned Parenthood in Indiana. That shows true Leadership... no candidate other than Sarah has done anything remotely close.
3. He is an excellent Christian who does NOT use his faith to pander for more votes. His wife is heavily into crisis pregnancy counseling, his four daughters are all involved in Christian works, and he very privately does a lot for Christian schools.
4. He is an excellent family man. His wife left him in 1994 to go marry another man in California. He took care of their four young daughters by himself until she came back to him 4 years later. The primary reason he has no declared his candidacy yet is because he is waiting for his wife's blessing... because they both know she'll get ripped to shreds for that single poor decision, which they all made peace with years ago.
This is not a weak man, nor a poor leader, nor a RINO. Look at the responses on this thread. Virtually every negative comment is made up of derogatory comments rather than substantive reason. That alone should tell you that the "con's" are mostly baseless. They attack his appearance, they use mischaracterizations of his words, and they ignore his record.
He's a good candidate, and certainly worthy of getting in the mix. Personally, I'd love to see the GOP race come down to Daniels, Pawlenty, Sarah, and DeMint... with Herman Cain and Colonel West the last two to drop out before those four names hit Super Tuesday and the main Primary run.