Why I Support Rick Santorum For The GOP Nomination

Long-time readers of this site know I have never endorsed a candidate during the primary season. I do criticize and applaud individual actions of individual candidates when it is warranted and recommend readers stay away from certain candidates who are totally unacceptable (like Ron Paul).  But there has never been a Lid endorsement before a general election campaign.

Sometimes a long drive is the best time to think things through, During my five-plus hour drive from NY to the nation's capital  plus hour drive to Washington DC for CPAC today I realized that by not making an endorsement in this crazy primary season, I was endorsing the status quo. In the end sitting on the fence wasn't very comfortable and it makes ones but very sore.

I am endorsing Rick Santorum for the GOP Presidential nomination. The reason?  I believe he has the best chance of defeating Barack Obama in the general election. Skittish Republicans are forgetting why the GOP re-took the house in November 2010.  Santorum remembers. On Monday night he said;

“I don’t stand here and claim to be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. I stand here to be the conservative alternative to Barack Obama.”  

In 2010 the GOP won the hearts and minds of Americans by offering a clear contrast to the freedom-killing policies of Barack Obama and his fellow progressives who dominated both houses of congress.

And for those of you wondering about the independents, this is what the NY Times said a few days after the mid-terms:

Independent voters, a key to President Obama’s election two years ago, turned sharply to the G.O.P. Republicans also won more support than usual from reliably Democratic constituencies: less affluent and less educated voters, of urbanites and voters from the nation’s East and West.

Anybody who tells you that only Mitt Romney can lure independents to a GOP ticket is lying.
 I would argue that only Rick Santorum can believably articulate the vision needed to lure independents. That vision is what defeated the Democrats in 2010 and will defeat them in 2012.

As conservatives we have allowed this campaign to be framed incorrectly. The issue is not Obamacare, neither is it about over-taxation, spending,  Dodd-Frank, forcing pro-life people to pay for birth control, or any of the other progressive policies imposed on Americans by Obama and his cadre of like-minded politicians. Those are simply the symptoms.  Making the individual issues and legislation the key part of the platform is like a doctor who has a patient with lung cancer but treats the patient for a bad cough.

Just as it was in the 2010 mid-term election, the issue in this campaign is Freedom.  Restoring the freedoms guaranteed to us by God and protected by our Constitution. We do not oppose Barack Obama because we want our party to win the presidency;  we oppose him because we wish to restore the rights and freedoms protected by the constitution.  Overturning, Obamacare, Dodd-Frank and all of those policies and legislation are simply some of the ways we are going to execute a vision of freedom.

To defeat Barack Obama in 2012, me must present a candidate whose vision for the future is dramatically different than the liberals who now control two-thirds of the government.

And I -- and Americans understand that there is a great, great deal at stake. If this president is re-elected and if we don't have a nominee that can make this case and not be compromised on the biggest issues of the day, but can make the case to the American public that this is about the founder's freedom, this is about a country that believes in God-given rights, and a Constitution that is limited to protect those rights. Rick Santorum-2/6/2012

In my opinion, Rick Santorum is the only Republican still in the race who can articulate that vision.

Mitt Romney cannot.  In fact I find it strange for someone like Romney who is campaigning as a senior manager, has forgotten the first priority of top management is providing vision.

Mitt Romney may be able to argue the individual issues and do it well, but Barack Obama will not be defeated based programs and legislation.  Barack Obama will only be defeated by presenting a distinctly different vision for America's future.

On the individual issues Obama will blame Bush, Congress, the Tea Party, Batman or any other scapegoat that comes to his mind. Disputing Obamacare, over-taxation et al can (and will) be twisted into "hating the lower-class, pushing granny off cliff and/or returning to the failed policies of the past." Favoring big labor over the general population will be explained as protecting the middle class.   Only by articulating that this election is about Freedom and by explaining that government does not grant rights, they only protect them, can this President be defeated. Mitt Romney cannot articulate that vision.

Newt Gingrich may be able to articulate that message, but too often he makes the message about getting elected. That's where the Bain Capital mess came from. It was all about Newt and nothing about vision.

JFK was credited with saying "a rising tide raises all boats".  What Mitt Romney doesn't understand, or can't explain, is that only by restoring our freedoms can the flood-gates be raised and that rising tide allowed into the harbor. That is the one issue Barack Obama cannot win.

In 2008 Obama won the Presidency and his party won massive majorities in the House and Senate. They implement (and accelerated) the liberal vision of a government that needs to grow because its role is to grant freedoms and distribute rights. That vision did not work, it did not "raise the boats."

I once wrote a post questioning if endorsements matter. I asked fellow citizen journalists some who endorse some who don't the consensus answer was a resounding, "I don't know."  This post may change your mind or not, but it needed to be written if only to get this off my mind and move on.

Those who have endorsed Romney or Gingrich have valid positions and are not somehow less conservative than others because of their positions. And if one of their candidates should win the nomination I will fight like hell to make sure they get elected.

Additionally there is no claim here that Rick Santorum is the perfect candidate.  The only perfect candidate would be God, but our maker has decided not to run. He has given us those unalienable rights, and has left the decision of what to do with those rights up to us, as imperfect as we are.

My endorsement of Rick Santorum is based on my belief that he is the one candidate who can articulate the message of freedom, and that particular articulation is the only way (in my opinion) we can defeat Barack Obama.