My Man Sam II

I was watching the National Review Institute’s Conservative Summit last weekend on CSPAN and one of the audience members noted during the question and answer session that no one of the 2008 Republican candidates was another Ronald Reagan. Every candidate seems to be putting on a play for the Reagan label, as well documented by TheoNorth. Let me provide a brief overview of where I stand on the various candidates, working my way down the National Journal race ranking:

John McCain: I could vote for John McCain for president without too much trepidation, but he doesn’t exactly excite me either. He’s wrong on several issues, foremost for me embryonic stem cell research and the Federal Marriage Amendment, and he voted against the Bush 2001 tax cuts.

Mitt Romney: I really could support Mitt Romney quite happily. Be as skeptical as you want about his conservative credentials; I don’t think there’s any doubt that once in office he would govern as a conservative. He’s a very charismatic personality, he’s giving a series of speeches talking about important policy issues, and he has a managerial approach that our economy could probably use right now as we face world competition like never before. I’m basically fine with “the Mormon thing.” We’ll see how the race evolves, but if in twelve months its down to McCain/Giuliani/Romney, then Mitt’s my man.

Rudy Giuliani: Like most conservatives, I have a series of major concerns about Rudy, from abortion to gay rights to judicial nominations to gun control and beyond. While I would probably bring myself to vote for Rudy in the privacy of my polling booth, I doubt I would donate or make too many phone bank nights.

Mike Huckabee: The Club for Growth report made me deeply suspicious that Huckabee is a big government conservative, and I was disappointed with his stand on school choice. While I will reserve judgement until after I read his newest book, he’s not my first choice, though I very much appreciate his Christian worldview.

Chuck Hagel: Wrong on the war. Nope.

Newt Gingrich: I like Newt, a lot. If he was running, I probably wouldn’t be publicly pro-Brownback, because I like Newt a lot. While I retain my concerns about whether he is quite the right person to be president, he can overcome those quite easily. He’s quite smart, he is right on policy, he tailors a message to reach a center-right majority of Americans, and he wants to keep the campaign focused on issues and solutions. My support for Brownback hinges on a Newt movement caveat.

Tommy Thompson: While I appreciate Tommy as the man from my home state, the great state of Wisconsin, he’s not my candidate for president. He’s wrong on stem cells and he’s curiously silent on gay marriage (Log Cabin: “one of the GOP’s most gay-friendly governors”).

I’m not going to cover Duncan Hunter, Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo, or George Pataki as I don’t see them as ultimately viable candidates.

So, then, why My Man, Sam Brownback for President?

1. We agree on basically all the issues, particularly the important ones. While his positions on immigration and the surge are of some concern, I understand and appreciate why he holds those views.
2. We agree on the importance of focusing the national conversation on the state of our families and our culture; the latter has been particularly neglected in past elections (talking about violence in video games is not a national conversation about the need for a renewal of our culture).
3. I admire his personal virtue – from everything I have seen and read, and the one time I met him, he is an all around honest, decent, kind, genuine, compassionate, humble, and honorable man.
4. I appreciate that he pays attention to issues that aren’t that sexy but deserve legislative attention none the less, for instance reforming our correctional system or stopping modern human slavery.
5. I appreciate his intellectual consistency – he understands the fundamental value and dignity of every individual human life as the central guiding principle of decision-making.
6. He’s running on many of the positions that guided our party to victory in 1994 – a flat tax, reigning in runaway judges, and term limits, for instance.

Now, let me enter a number of caveats about Senator Brownback and his campaign for the presidency.

1. He should have talked more about the terrorist threat we face in his announcement speech.
2. I understand, appreciate, encourage and share the enthusiasm pro-life activists have for Senator Brownback’s candidacy. That said, I think that it would be wise for both the campaign and the movement to keep some minimal level of distance. If Brownback’s candidacy is seen simply and only as a subsidiary of the pro-life movement, it will be much harder to win the GOP nomination.
3. I don’t know to what extent what the Rolling Stone writer extrapolated incorrectly, and I am sure that this is the case, but for the record there are unique, distinct, and important roles for both civil society and government.
4. Among TheoNorth’s well-put concerns, chief for me is the Senator’s campaign website is abysmal. There is no information, it is NEVER updated, there is minimal interactivity, there is no dynamism; compared to Romney, Obama, Clinton, Edwards, Huckabee, Biden, Vilsack, Brownback’s site is in the lowest tier for quality.
5. While I very deeply respect and often share many of his personal religious practices, I would choose not to discuss certain of them publicly (ex.).

Finally, a viability caveat. A good organization in Michigan isn’t much good if Brownback doesn’t do well enough in Iowa. And while he does not need to raise the same amount of money as Romney/Giuliani/McCain, he has to raise enough to be competitive. More than that, Senator Brownback and his staff have to show they can beat the Democrat in November. I appreciate the value of a crusade, but if this endeavor started to look too much like a Kucinich, I’m gonna have second thoughts.

So that’s it, there you go. Right now, I’m a Brownbacker. As the race progresses over the next months I will keep a steady eye on the field, and Senator Brownback’s campaign in particular. But it is my sincere hope that Senator Brownback proves to the nation he has what it takes to be president, and that people buy-in to his message and vision.

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