The other candidates and the pundits once lamented that he didn’t offer specifics. He has offered specifics and has stated that he doesn’t want to get tied down by being overly specific which is smart. Meanwhile, I haven’t heard any of the other candidates offering much in the way of policy specifics. Carly is proud of her Wrinkles and Jeb is proud of his Mexican heritage. They aren’t talking about policies. They’re talking about Donald Trump. Trump has been the most specific of any of them IMO.
True.
But put this in business terms.
You want to have a contractor build a four car garage for your house. You listen to the radio ads and go to the websites for various general contractors in the area. They all spout how they are the best value for you and so on.
When it comes time to select the contractor, I hope that you don't look only at the price and the generalities.
I would imagine that you will look at past work that the contractor has done and look at the contractor's references. ("Past Performance")
Suppose you have a contractor who promises that his work will be above and beyond what everybody else does...he throws in features and benefits that are just unbelievable and promises to do all of this for a price that beats all of the competition.
Sounds great, right? Suppose he doesn't have any references to prove that he can actually accomplish what he promises...what then?
If he doesn't have the references, I don't know about you, but I would be really skeptical. Maybe I'd still allow him to do the work (after all, he may just be moving in the area and needs to establish a record), but the only way I'd do so is to carefully review every other aspect of his proposal with a fine-toothed comb. I'd examine all of the drawings with a microscope, look at his bill of materials and sources, his subcontracting plan, maybe his staffing plan, and I would insist upon a quality assurance plan that would make sure that I am not out a single thin dime before an in-process inspection was done at each stage (including paying for any materials).
In other words, I would place a contractor without relevant past performance under an incredible amount of scrutiny not only before signing a contract, but afterwards too.
Is it that much different with politicians?
I can tell that Rubio or Bush would be open-borders guys. Why? I can look at their past performance. Same with Bush. I can tell that Cruz will be a fighter on Obamacare...as would Paul. Why? Look at their past history. I can tell that Huckabee and Christie and see that they'd be big government GOP types. Why? Their past history. But I can't do that with Fiorina, Carson, or Trump. They don't have a past voting record. Sure, I can look at their words, but talk is cheap. The only thing I can do with them is look at their "technical proposal" to make sure it will do what they promise (and, yes, I can review their past statements, but, again, talk is cheap and talk can be taken out of context and so on).