I've always tried to be a 'the glass is half full' kinda guy, but I gotta tell you, after this last election it's been more than a little difficult. And I'm certainly not ready to start thinking about 2016, because with Barry having another four years to work on getting a few million more Americans addicted to the government, I'm feeling none too optimistic about our chances next time around. Even though, it would appear that, many others are apparently already thinking about the next election and have been busying touting what they see as being our strong bench of potential candidates for the next presidential go around. But I can't help but wonder what good it's going to do us. Can you possibly imagine how many more people there will be by then who will have no intention, whatsoever, of voting for anyone who even remotely might be talking about cutting government programs. By then it may just be insurmountable.
Having said all that, if you can believe all of those currently doing all of the talking, it would appear that upwards of 15 very prominent Republicans, some privately and some not so privately, are now contemplating 2016 campaigns for the presidency, and the most serious and ambitious of the bunch are already plunging right in, with a few doing so quite publicly. Don’t expect them to officially announce or even officially decide for many months, but Sen. Marco Rubio, Gov. Bobby Jindal and Rep. Paul Ryan are doing very little to disguise their presidential aspirations. Jindal, the Rhodes scholar and new chairman of the Republican Governors Association (RGA), is making a very public case for a more intellectual approach to conservatism, accusing the GOP of being, in his words, "the stupid party." He offered a similar premeditated critique to reporters at the RGA, on Fox and in an opinion piece.
And, let's not forget that we have Rubio and Ryan, both can, arguably, be said to be in a little better position than is Jindal, and are also both competing for the mantle of the high-energy, forward-thinking conservatives. And it is being reported that both will unveil new policy plans at an awards dinner of the Jack Kemp Foundation in early December: Ryan will begin a new push on a more modern approach to alleviating poverty, focused on education; Rubio will lift the curtain on an economic empowerment message, heavy on college affordability and workforce training. That upcoming duet is one of the clearest signs that this presidential race is beginning as early as any in history. And also not to be left behind is Sen. Rand Paul son of Rep. Ron Paul, and heir to his father’s libertarian following, who is now on the record exploring a run that will focus heavily on returning power to the states.
In a post-election interview, Paul said he wants to find common ground with liberal Democrats on softer marijuana laws and help create an eventual pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. And these rising stars are hardly alone in their quest for the presidency. We also have Chris Christie, who I have to admit I'd have a difficult time supporting, at least at this point in time. And there are also rumors that Rick Santorum may want to run again. Gov. Rick Perry has also said that he might, too, and has begun talking to donors and other top supporters like he means it. And Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor with strong credentials on education and winning back Hispanics, has told advisers he will sit back to see how things unfold over the next year before deciding whether to finally give it a go. Jeb Bush Jr., the former governor’s younger son, said when asked on CNN's "Starting Point" whether his father would run: "I certainly hope so."
"You have this young crop, of attractive, successful, proven problem-solvers," former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said. "Old guys like me have to get out of the way." Barbour said the way to stand out in the field will be to help with the party’s 2013 and 2014 races. "We’re not going to wait till 2016 to set a strong new course," he added. This all might seem premature, and a possible big-time distraction for a party that lost the presidency and Senate and House seats this time around. But top Republican officials are encouraging the never-ending presidential campaign in hopes of creating influential national voices beyond Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. "On every conference call, the message is the same," one top official said. "We’re going to push out our new generation of leadership. We’re not going to sit back and let the extreme voices define what it means to be a conservative." Personally I wouldn’t label Fox News or even Rush as extreme.
Republicans are still haunted by the post-election chaos of 2008, when, with John McCain diminished by defeat and there were few clear future leaders with national juice then on the scene. This time around it is said that things feels quite different: Unlike 2008, when Republicans chalked up their defeat to a bad GOP ticket in a terrible post-Bush environment for the party, many of the most influential voices are calling for substantial rethinking of the conservative approach to politics. They are reckoning with demographic trends that favor Democrats, in other words, a growing dependent class made up of entitlement oriented parasites who favor more and more government spending on them. Another hurdle that needs to be dealt with is exit polling suggesting the assumption this is a center-right country might be wrong, or at least was wrong on Nov. 6, when it was a center-left electorate that showed up to vote.
I suppose, as always, the danger does exist that Republicans will get pulled into a bitter fight over the direction the party needs to take, especially as more traditional and hard-edged conservatives jump into the race. Republican sources said Rep. Michele Bachmann might want to fill the void on the religious right now and that Mike Pence, who just won the gubernatorial race in Indiana, has expressed interest in running, too. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who unlike Ryan won statewide in a state that Barry "Almighty" won twice, also harbors national ambitions and remains a favorite of the Tea Party. For now, most of the media attention is on Republicans who can help the party adapt to the changing demographics, weeks after the party lost African-Americans by 90 points, Asian-Americas by 50 points, Hispanics by more than 40 points and women by just over 10. Or groups that favors our very costly entitlement programs.
Finally, there are those elected officials who are perpetually looking for something bigger: Sens. John Thune of South Dakota and Rob Portman of Ohio; Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, whose term ends in 2014; and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who like so many others on this list has made his ambitions known in private conversations with donors and activists. Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus said in a recent email: "While the RNC engages in a serious post-election analysis of what worked well and what needs to be improved upon, one area that gives me great optimism is the caliber and quantity of potential 2016 candidates on the GOP side. The top names on the GOP side are talking about serious solutions and reforms to the major issues facing the country which will put the Republican field in a solid position." With this current flurry of activity, there is little time to waste for those trying to position themselves.
Jindal has been the most aggressive, hitting his party hard in a post-election interview, his posting of an op-ed on CNN and offering a sharp critique of his party during last week’s RGA meetings. In the interview, Jindal urged an end to "dumbed-down conservatism." "We need to stop being simplistic. … We’ve got to make sure that we are not the party of big business, big banks, big Wall Street bailouts, big corporate loopholes, big anything," he said. Ryan allies believe that although his vice presidential run ended in a disappointing rout, he has more celebrity, credibility and clout after the race. With his expertise and power in the upcoming budget fights, Ryan will be a central figure in the policy and political debates of 2013. Rubio plays up his working-class roots and values as part of an appeal to voters making $30,000 to $50,000 a year — a group Romney lost badly but with whom Republicans used to be very competitive.
So there we are and the question that I suppose still remains to be asked is, will we even survive until 2016. I mean it's all well and good to sound all rosy and optimistic, but what good is any of it going to do if Barry succeeds in creating the economic and financial implosion that he is so desperately trying to bring about? Will we be able to hold this whole thing together until we are able to finally elect someone who actually gives a shit about fixing this thing and not in only making matters worse because they see some political advantage in doing so. And the task is only made all the more difficult due to the fact that the combined IQ of at least 51 percent of our electorate adds up to roughly 2. Which brings me back to the point of whether the glass is half full or half empty. And I'll be honest with you, I just don't know anymore. Frankly, I think the odds may be stacked against us, because the American people just don’t seem to care anymore.
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