Largely agree, and your thinking gets to some root causes and issues.
I think it is key that our nominee be someone who can discuss the basic principles involved, their history and importance to us today, and in the future. Someone who can explain and connect underlying (conservative) principles for the well-being and future character of our nation.
If our failure comes as the world’s leading nation, it will come because we have ceased to be a moral (and I say, unabashedly, Judeo/Christian), informed, and self-reliant people.
We need leaders and candidates who can explain that, make it understandable, real, and personal to the population at large.
And there's no way in hell that Romney could ever lead that charge.
The more I analyze the situation, the more I wish Sarah Palin was running. That remains my honest conviction.
Cain? Perry? Gingrich? I could live with either of those three, I guess. Newt certainly is masterful at conservative rhetoric, and has deep historical and philosophical knowledge, but when he was in Congress he was pretty much an NWO/neocon wasn't he?. The "Free Trade Agreements", etc. It may very well be that Newt could be a good stateseman President.
For me right now, I support Cain, Gingrich, and Perry, in that order. And I'm very excited about these long format debates which Gingrich and Cain might participate in. When will those be?