Home » Voices » Columns »

COLUMN: Could the 2012 election bring us President Snyder?

By Maria Amante on November 22, 2010 3:15 am in Columns / 7 comments

 

The political landscapes in the 2008 and 2010 elections were night and day — one obviously proved to be a winner for Democrats, the other for Republicans.

We have two years to figure out who will win that cold November night in 2012, but one party does not even have a viable candidate … yet. To find their best bet, they may end up looking directly at the state of Michigan.

Consider Republicans’ top four names at the moment: Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Newt Gingrich. Not one of them could make it past the primary without making it a 1996 Clinton/Dole-style repeat for Barack Obama.

Palin is tabloid trouble — polarizing except to the people who really love her. Also, she quit her job as governor to write a book and get a reality show. I see that coming back to haunt her.

Romney is out because he lost to John McCain two years ago. When McCain was all but written off as a Republican presidential candidate by the time primary season picked up in 2008. Romney was assured to win the GOP nomination that year, and if he couldn’t wrap it up then, why would he be able to now?

Huckabee is likable, but leans way too far to the right. I think his disbelief of evolution and other conservative stances will scare away the moderates in the Republican party.

And Gingrich? Even his own party kind of hates him. He was Dick Cheney before Dick Cheney was Dick Cheney.

The Republicans do have one secret weapon, one yet-to-be-named person who could give them an advantage. Michigan’s governor-elect, Rick Snyder.

Snyder came out of nowhere with his Super Bowl advertisement this February. He quietly, steadfastly ran a campaign, cool to the touch, without faltering. He created his own direction as a candidate — he ran as he wanted to.

He didn’t respond to critics directly and barely engaged in conversation with his Democratic opponent, save for a campaign event Virg Bernero crashed and the lukewarm gubernatorial debate.

While the Democrats may ridicule his amateur status; the first political office he has been elected to is that of governor. If he runs for president, he will have only served in that office for a year by the time his presidential campaign will begin — but Democrats’ own candidate was relatively inexperienced when he first ran for president in 2008.

Snyder works as a presidential candidate even though he is a political amateur for many reasons.

His moderate Republican views encouraged the Democrat crossover. His biggest strength that allowed him to win the nomination and ultimately the governor’s office was his practicality.

Snyder seems to be a fair man and short on bias, and his business sense will bode well for him as the governor.

Snyder won this race because he focused on what matters: the economy. He refused to get distracted by social issues.

The GOP cannot afford to nominate a cartoon character, which is frankly what the rest of their pool represents.

 

Tags

, , ,

Related Posts

 
  • Observer

    Interesting points, but I see it as an unlikely occurrence. For starters, it's the Republican base who will pick the nominee, and whomever the GOP nominates in 2012 will have to be approved by the base, which means in all likelihood the nominee will be a social conservative. Some states like Michigan have open primaries, but there are many states that do not and only registered party members can vote. Keep in mind, Huckabee did real strong in the South, winning many states there, and even came out on top in Iowa, the first of the primaries/caucuses. I don't see Sarah Palin walking away with the nomination, but some other strong GOP names you didn't mention are Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal.

    Also, two years as governor (or a few months as governor, as the campaign will kick off early 2011) as one's only government experience will present an issue, especially when all foreign policy experience is lacking. I'll admit Barack Obama didn't have much experience when he ran, but he was able to pull it off in part due to his charisma and media charm, a trait Snyder doesn't possess. The presidential election is going to have a lot more media coverage than Michigan's gubernatorial campaign, and there's no way Snyder is going to be able to hide from the media and avoid debating any of his challengers the way he did this time around (Snyder did have one debate with Bernero, but none against any of the other Republicans). Anything could happen and the campaign hasn't started (yet), but Palin, Pawlenty, Romney, et al. have a lot more financial resources and much more experience in the national spotlight than Hoekstra, Cox, and Bouchard.

  • Michmediaperson

    I don't think Rick will have time to run for President in 2012. He has an uphill battle to turn this state around after eight disastrous years of socialist Jennifer Granholm. He's going to have his work cut out for him. He's inheriting a mess from Jenny.

  • Joe M.

    I hereby nominate Maria Amante for new conservative colmnist at CM-Life!

    The writing is head and shoulders above other conservative columnists at Life, but more importantly, she seems to be thinking for herself instead of parroting talking points from the pundits. In fact, it's difficult to tell what her political stance is from this column– it's not point of view analysis, which is refreshing. If you do lean right, Maria, I hope you'll continue to get the column inches that have so far been devoted to illogical and stale rehashes of the Fox News/Roger Ailes morning memo.

    I'm a progressive, but I'd rather spar with talented writers than lazy mimics.

  • Jonas

    WHO CARES. TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK

    REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT

  • chipskeptic

    Maria wrote some moronic commentary. Her analysis is basically dime store psychology that mimics MSNBC talking points. For instance her analysis of Mitt Romney is absolutely incorrect. In the Republican primary you have to end up as the second place finisher in the previous cycle to be considered the front runner in the next cycle if there is no sitting President from your party. If there is a sitting President from your party, then the Vice President is the next one in..

  • Cvtheis55

    Very well written and an unemotional, well-grounded, reality-based assessment of the potential candidates. I like it. While Palin has gotten an unfair rap in the media, she is in no way presidential material. Looks like we hold out our hope for Chris Christie in 2016.

  • Eric

    More liberal bloviating from a liberal publication. A correction should be made: neither party has a viable candidate. Sad that both viewpoints are rarely given in CM Life. It's all one-sided. The “cartoon characters” of Obama, Pelosi, and Biden are better? To those that think that this is a good piece: You must be liberal, and this reinforces your viewpoint. This would not get more than a “C” in middle school advanced writing. Terribly slanted.