Posted on 10/23/2007 2:33:03 AM PDT by dano1
There was plenty to admire about Mike Huckabee's appearance at Concord High on Friday. He talked with the students, not at them or down to them. Many of them disagreed with him on abortion rights, but they had to respect the way he explained his pro-life views. And in both body language and actual language he displayed a humility that would be a rare quality - and an asset - in a president.
Huckabee is just the kind of candidate for whom the New Hampshire primary purports to exist. He's a little-known governor with a small bankroll. His only hope is to sell himself directly to the public.
To run this kind of personal campaign, a candidate must come across as genuine, smart and experienced. Check, check and check. Huckabee, 52, is comfortable with himself and well-versed in the issues. For 11 years he was Arkansas's governor, a job in which, as he explained to the students, he often had to pursue or sell policies that he knew were unpopular.
So far, Huckabee is best known as a bass guitarist, a guy who lost more than 100 pounds and a comedian. These are positives. He's humble about his musical skills, but even in a dark suit, white shirt and pink tie, he looks natural with a guitar strapped over his shoulder. He has translated his belief in music and the arts into appealing public policy. His weight loss makes him a role model and gives him a platform for talking about health as a public issue. The humor is a bonus; he and John McCain are in a league of their own in the 2008 presidential field.
Governors often make better presidential candidates than senators. Three of the last four presidents have been governors. But a governor must prove to voters that he can make the leap from a governor's mansion to the White House. That's hard to do when the national media play you for comic relief and your own party allows you to be pushed toward the wings in every televised debate. Local journalists love to cover a candidate like Huckabee because they don't have to jostle for position and access with a huge crowd of reporters and photographers. Good for them, bad for Huckabee.
That's why New Hampshire is such an important state for him - if New Hampshire can ignore the media's obsession with narrowing the field before the first vote is cast.
Religion could also be a problem for Huckabee.
It has been months since he came to the Monitor for an editorial board, but our discussion of religion was memorable. Before his political career, Huckabee was a Baptist pastor in Pine Bluffs and Texarkana for many years. We wanted to probe his thoughts on the separation of church and state and his ability to respect people of other faiths or no faith.
He told us that in dealing with members of his congregation, he had experienced and confronted every kind of human misery. He counseled parents who had lost young children, married couples on the verge of divorce, people in debt, people struggling with alcohol and drug problems. The forlorn, the sinners and the sinned-against are a pastor's province.
Huckabee had taken from this experience a profound understanding of human nature. He projects this quality when he speaks in public. While explaining his own views clearly and unapologetically, he also considers his listeners' interests and tries to address them.
But New Hampshire isn't the Bible Belt. Voters in this live-and-let-live state tend to be suspicious of those who mix religion and politics, such as the Republican pastor-politician Pat Robertson.
In 1988, Robertson gave the establishment a fright by finishing second in Iowa. He actually ran ahead of Vice President George H.W. Bush, the eventual nominee and president. In New Hampshire a few days later, Robertson took less than a 10th of the vote and couldn't even beat Pete DuPont.
Huckabee's views on moral issues are an updated version of Robertson's: pro-life, anti-evolution, anti-gay rights. To some degree, these positions reflect the Republican Party platform, and Huckabee has been consistent in espousing them. It is safe to say that Republicans who have liked President Bush's Supreme Court appointments would like Huckabee's, too.
In case you were wondering, I should acknowledge here that I am not in that camp. There are many issues on which I disagree profoundly with Huckabee. Despite those differences, I find him intriguing and wonder why his party, with its big southern base, pays him so little heed.
One of his well-heeled rivals may emerge as a stronger candidate than any appear to be now. Then again, maybe not. While New Hampshire Republicans wait and see, they owe it to themselves - and to the state's primary tradition - to lend Huckabee an ear.
He may make you chuckle, but he'll also surprise you with his depth and his manner.
A liberal Dem newspaper editor likes Huckabee. Big surprise there!
OK, so why the sudden push from so many quarters for Huckabee? I never heard a thing about him until recently, and now he’s looking like a media darling. From what I read on his web site, he seems to be both fiscally and socially conservative. Of course, all of the candidates, except maybe Ron Paul, are trying to fit the part right now. What’s Huckabee’s history as a governor? Was he a staunch conservative then, or is he trying to move right for the primaries?
How does Huckabee contrast with GWB circa 1999?
His history includes numerous tax hikes, ballooning government spending, and increased regulation.
It sounds like a last ditch effort to try to stop Fred’s momentum. Huckabee doesn’t pass muster. He is AWFUL on illegals.
Although Wikipedia is skewed left, you get an idea of where he’s at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_huckabee
Pay close attention to the part on illegals.
Lastly, I wouldn’t recommend him because, like Romney, he left his state party in shambles. It’s in weaker shape now than before Clinton took office as Governor almost 30 years ago and has only 1 (!) officeholder above the legislature, the single Congressman John Boozman. You’d have to go back to 1964 to find it weaker, when it didn’t even exist as a party there. This at a time when every other Southern state has gone more and more Republican under differing kinds of leadership, starkly contrating with that of Haley Barbour in MS, one of our best and brightest stars, who has presided over a spectacular increase in party strength at the state and legislative levels.
the more I try to give all these other guys a chance, the more I appreciate Fred as a true conservative.
Huckabee is the choice of LA RAZA!
Maybe the worst was the $5.25 per day tax on all Nursing Home Patients not on Medicare.
He does speak well but so do nearly all preacher types.
Indeed. Of course, no candidate is ever 100% perfect, but when you compare and contrast the so-called “major candidates” (Rudy, too liberal; Romney, liberal/flipflopper/cut & run Gov/ruinous party leader; Huckabee, illegals squish/tax-hiker; McCain, nuts; Paul, nuts with sprinkles on top; Duncan... well, I like Duncan, solid Conservative, but House members just don’t go straight to the WH anymore), you realize that Fred is simply the only viable guy with the best Conservative record and broadest possible acceptance. The media knows it, and they’re terrified of him and one way they go after him is by either claiming he’s lazy or just not bothering to cover his campaign (thereby reenforcing the belief amongst the average voter that if he’s not being covered moment to moment, he’s “slipping back” or “foundering” — a neat little trick, no ?). Ignore that “Fred” problem, and he’ll go away. This is going to be a different kind of campaign, and they don’t like that one bit.
His liberalism is why the media is pushing Hucksterbee...esp on illegal aliens
Thanks for the link. From what I read, he seems better on many issues than Rudy McRomney, but he also appears to be a compassionate conservative similar to Bush. He doesn’t want to send law-abiding (HA!) illegal immigrants home, only those who commit crimes (HA!). He also doesn’t seem to have a problem expanding government in order to “help” people, not understanding that government usually mucks things up. Personally, I’m not interested in Bush II (or is that Bush III?).
However did you also notice that the editor doesn't seem to agree with Huckabee on conservative issues?
In the article this Concord Monitor editor says that:
"In case you were wondering, I should acknowledge here that I am not in (the Huckabee) camp. There are many issues on which I disagree profoundly with Huckabee.".
There have been several similar commentaries in the news recently from strident liberals who emphasize that they strongly disagree with Huckabee's politics, but say they can't help but admire him as a person.
Conversely much of the flack Huck catches from other conservatives seems to come from people who, (such as in your comment above), seem to want to berate Huckabee without offering specific evidence or without naming another specific Conservative who is better. IMHO, in the final analysis this type of rhetoric is not realistic, since there are no perfect candidates.
This is one of the games the leftist driveby media plays every election cycle: trying to influence the Republican primaries by “picking” a Republican “star”.
For a long time they pushed McCain. That didn’t work. They’re still pushing Giuliani, but they sense (rightly) that that also won’t work.
So now they’ve hitched their leftist wagons to the Huckabee star. I don’t know that much about Huckabee, other than the Club For Growth gave him an F, but I’m immediately suspicious that all the king’s leftists and all the king’s queens have suddenly “discovered” Huckabee.
From the link: “Illegal immigrants who are already living among us and commit crimes must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and incarcerated or deported.”
In other words, we’ll just ignore the fact that ALL of the illegal aliens are criminals, and we’ll only deport those who break the law...not including the laws they broke to come here and/or stay here illegally.
In other words...amnesty.
samtheman wrote: “I’m immediately suspicious that all the king’s leftists and all the king’s queens have suddenly “discovered” Huckabee.”
Me, too! Not a word was spoken about him until recently. Now the MSM seems to love him That’s enough for me to be EXTREMELY suspicious of Huckabee. Why are they suddenly so enthusiastic over him???
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