Posted on 08/01/2013 8:55:44 AM PDT by National Review
A look at the 2016 Republican field
By Ramesh Ponnuru
The next Republican presidential nominee is already planning his campaign. If it is not too early for him to think about 2016, why should it be for the rest of us?
We don’t know, of course, what issues will be uppermost in the public mind that year, or what the economy will be like. Republicans can take comfort, though, in the fact that only twice in the last century has a two-term president been succeeded by someone else from the same party. They should also be encouraged that the leading Democratic contenders for 2016, at the moment, appear to be Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. Only four times in American history has the public chosen a president more than five years older than his predecessor (Clinton is 14 years older than Obama, Biden 19). Since the Cold War ended, the younger candidate has won all four races that featured a contrast in age.
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Elites thus begin to define who the primary candidates will be.
There they go again. The whole article was a set-up to the arrival of the great saviour, Chris Christie.
Christie has his good points, but his bad ones eclipse them.
Even though he can be an aggressive attack dog, he frequently turns his skills against others in his party, e.g. Newt Gingrich (calling him a “crook” in the primary), Romney (mugging with Obama right before the general election), and, most recently, Rand Paul. In this respect, he out McCain’s McCain.
The main thing about Christie is core principles. He appears to have none, aside from selective attacks on a few liberal targets like the civil service unions. Mainly, Christie is about Christie, not core political principles.
On gay marriage, Islam, the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, illegal invaders, and governmental intrusiveness, he is with the left. So what qualifies him as a conservative Republican?
NADA.
If only defeating Hillary is your objective, he might very well do that. But if correcting the errors of Obama and his several predecessors is your objective, he’s the wrong man. And there may very well be better candidates to take on Hillary AND provide us with a benefit upon election in the long run.
Anyone know if Mike Pence is possibly running?
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