Edward Flahavan
Staff Writer
‘He’s a racist, homophobic, xenophobic and he’s a sexist. He’s the perfect republican candidate.’
This was Bill Press’ assessment of Pat Buchanan when the latter sought the Grand Old Party’s nomination. For prospective candidates looking to face down Obama in the 2012 campaign this may simply not be enough. The radicalised right wing of the party means that the ideal candidate must ignite the religious zealotry of the fundamentalists, court the economic ideals of the liberals and satisfy the demands of the conservatives.
The Tea Party is to the Republicans what the Intercity football firm was to West Ham Utd. in the heyday of eighties football hooliganism; extreme, prejudiced and headline grabbing. Yet the disaffected flank of the Republican Party has swelled to such an extent that the voting base that it represents has gone beyond an embarrassment and is now a potent political phenomenon to be tamed.
The suburban smile of Michele Bachmann gave face to this movement, though Bachmann is less Wisteria Lane and more Little House on the Flat Earther’s Prairie. Her views on gay rights and abortion (the former is a curable disease punishable by cancer, the latter tantamount to murder) along with her willingness to concoct any manner of story to drum up support made her the glamorous poster girl for far right America. Her initial polling has dropped off in recent months, nevertheless this is due to her interview performances that have the liberal satirists giddy at the inflow of ignorant ramblings; the pick of which must be her ‘unconfirmed reports’ of Hezbollah missile sites in Cuba.
The unrelenting fervour of the right which is partisan at best, bigoted and outright xenophobic at worst have made it impossible for the relatively nuanced moderate Jon Huntsman to register any more than piecemeal support. Huntsman’s former role as ambassador to China for the Obama Administration has ensured his campaign was shot in the foot from the start and he has limped behind the pack ever since, despite being the most worldly of the nominees.
Mitt Romney was looking like the most likely to get the nod, despite his Mormon faith irking Evangelists and his personality failing to excite just about anyone. It was left to a Texan Governor to gallop up from the Heartland to rescue the GOP. While Rick Perry’s predecessor George W.’s good ol’boy image was contrived, Perry seemed to be the real deal. The spurs began to fall off his boots when it became clear that his small government mantra – ‘I want to make Washington D.C as irrelevant to your lives as I can’ – was at odds with his records of high Federal spending and grubby politics in the lone star state.
As the flow of support receded from Perry and looked, seemingly desperately for an alternative to Romney, it took an interesting course. Herman Cain lived an alternative American dream to that of the man whom he looks to depose from the White House. Growing up in a poor black family in Atlanta Georgia, hard work and perseverance have been his attributes, gaining a university degree before climbing the greasy pole of fast food chain management. This culminated in his appointment as CEO of Godfathers pizza. Cain’s CV promises much more than his policies, for one they can be backed up by fact. His plan to overhaul the tax system has quickly been exposed for the ignorant stab at policy that it is (84% of Americans would pay more not less tax). The ‘Hermanator’ has also deliberately ridden roughshod over just about any foreign policy issue, quite correctly assessing that matters at home not abroad will decide this election.
Whether Cain can maintain this level of support as the rumble of the campaign and the intensity of scrutiny increases appears doubtful, after all you don’t have to be Sean Gallagher to understand the folly of polling numbers. Mitt Romney, despite flip flopping on issues and introducing ‘Romneycare’ (essentially Obama’s polarising healthcare reforms) in Massachusetts, looks like being able to weather the Cain storm. In the likely event of a Romney nomination the Tea Party voter will sulk to his support against Obama, better a liberal masquerading as a conservative than a Muslim masquerading as an American, eh?
