NG--No Good?

A lot of Republicans are casting about for an alternative to Romney, whom many see as not conservative enough.  After playing footsie with Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Herman Cain, they seem to be leaning toward Newt Gingrich, who was written off not that long ago. (There's still over a month to go till Iowa, but they're running out of candidates.)

There's no question a lot of conservatives hearts are gladdened by his snappy answers at debates:



But is this the man for 2012?  Maybe 1994, but there's been a lot of water under the bridge.  He's got so much baggage--both personal and political--that it's hard to believe the Republicans will give him a shot and even harder to believe he'll do well in the general election.

There's plenty to like about Newt.  He's smart, he's experienced, he's willing to try novel solutions, and he's given almost every issue, national and international, a lot of thought.  But that's part of the trouble.  This is a man who's taken stances, and been involved in controversies.  With that past, he's open to strong attack from both the right and the left.

There's also the question of temperament.  Bullying reporters plays well with the right, but if he keeps doing it during the general election, he could come across as nasty.  Do we really want a guy like that lecturing us for the next four years?

It's true, he led the Republican takeover of the House in the 90s when many thought it couldn't be done.  For that alone he deserves to be on the conservative Mt. Rushmore.  But it wasn't hard for Clinton to face him down and turn the public against him.  Whether this is due to Gingrich's arrogance, Clinton's strategery, or some other factor, I don't know, but you can be sure that Obama will study that playbook (if Newt gets that far).

Could he convince the public that he's the one to get us out of our economic woes--when he's associated with Republicans of old whom many blame for the mess? (And it's recently come out he got paid $1.6 million by Freddie Mac--maybe it's a cheap shot but it could play.)

And how will he look when he has to debate Obama on foreign affairs?  At a recent Republican debate, all the candidates heaped scorn on Obama, and the partisan audience cheered, but I doubt it'll go over so well with a wider audience.  Newt said something like we're losing Iran and need more covert action there.  That kind of argument would play right into Obama's hands  "I know how handle this.  I got Osama Bin Laden.  I won a war in Libya, taking out their dictator, without spilling American blood.  I've extracted us from Iraq.  And without firing a single shot, the entire Arab and Muslim world is fighting to remove their tyrants.  What we don't need right now is another hot-headed leader who'll get us caught up in another hopeless, intractable war where thousands of our soldiers will die while turning the native population against us.  And by the way, how do you know we haven't got enough covert action?"

Actually, I'd like to see Gingrich and Obama debate.  It would be lively.  But I'm not sure if it'd work out out how a lot of conservatives think. But then, he's got to take his party's nomination first, and that's still a pretty long road.