When watching yesterday’s debate in Iowa, I was struck by Newt Gingrich’s strong answers. His rise in the polls came suddenly, surprising not just the other candidates but even Gingrich himself, yet he showed no sign of being nervous. He jumped on every opportunity to rip President Obama and to defend his record. It was the behavior and attitude of a guy with great confidence in himself and in his debating skills.
The former Speaker of the House compared himself several times to President Ronald Reagan yesterday (as he has done throughout the campaign). He worked with the 40th president, he argued, and learned a lot from him. In many ways, he’d like voters to believe, he even resembles Reagan.
Well, like Reagan, Gingrich is indeed quite feisty. He’s willing to take the fight to his opponents and their (progressive) ideology. However, there are also a few major differences, the most important of which are:
1. Reagan clearly had a conservative record, Gingrich does not.
2. Reagan was a very likable guy, Gingrich is anything but.
The second point should not be underestimated. Gingrich is a great debater, but it’s incredibly difficult to actually like him. That will be a problem in the national elections, when he has to take on a president who is liked (although voters don’t think too highly of his policies). Independents who aren’t sure whom to vote for always end up voting for the candidate they sympathize with most, which means that the Independent vote will go to Obama, if Gingrich is his opponent.
As we all know, you can only win when Independents are behind you. Gingrich, then, is destined to lose.
Sorry Michael, but I am an independent and part of a large group of Independents here in my neck of the woods who would definitely vote for Gingrich, likable or not.
He is not running for Class President of some Prep School, he is running for POTUS, a position where popularity is not always a good thing especially when it comes to getting things done as Gingrich has showed he is capable of doing over and over again. Oh and BTW, having met Mr. Gingrich on several occasions at UGA I find him to be very likable as did many of my Independent friends.
Independents are not as vain or preppy as you would like to caste them for we really don’t cater much to popularity when it comes to our candidates. We lean toward those who we feel can get the job done. Some independents(not I) voted for Obama in 08 out of frustration but have learned their lesson. The man can’t get the job done, likable or not. One can like sharks but that doesn’t mean they will go swimming with them.
As far as being conservative, he is not a far right conservative but then neither was Reagan but then it seems that some conservatives have forgotten that. They also forget that Reagan was an old time Democrat but seem to cast it aside when they wish to beat up on Rick Perry.( A likable guy who could also beat Obama despite polls to the contrary)
I hate to say it but far right conservatives need to take a look at who can get the job done once elected and get behind that individual and right now that individual is Newt, warts, low likability and all.
Gingrich won’t win as long as the very people who should be supporting him continue to denigrate him.
Maybe: winning the election will take a verbal polemicist like Newt as a terse synopsis of Obama’s record of corruption will end Obama’s Presidency. I don’t know the other candidates are capable of the kind of rhetoric necessary. Obama has badly exposed himself in a number of areas and it only remains to confront him about it when the time comes. You can only filibuster so long in a debate when the question keeps bouncing back.
Like, smike, you must think everyone thinks with their beltway genitals? Yes, the beltway hates the Grinch, he’s stepped on their dicks repeatedly, but the last I looked they don’t elect presidents, they just select the candidates, and they’re having some difficulties getting it up. Were these not the same people that swooned over Obama?
It is incredibly hard to like ANY of the current candidates, other than maybe Huntsman and Bachmann. So what. We already know that 2012 will be a very close election, and is likely to be decided by PA, just as 2000 was decided by FL and 2004 was decided by OH. We need a dirty street fighter who will swiftboat Obama, not a nice guy. He also needs to be very smart, because national economic conditions may change dramatically (in either direction) between now and the election. A deep understanding of the mechanics of the US monetary and economic system is essential. Only Romney, Gingrich, and maybe Huntsman have shown us any hints of that sort of understanding. Even those 3 have only shown hints. Bachmann may be suitable for Secretary of Defense, but she hasn’t shown me she has the slightest understanding of macroeconomics.
Just imagine if the EU banking system implodes next year ushering in Great Depression II, and the GOP candidates are still yapping about cutting US deficits. Obama will win in a landslide.
Michael writes: “Gingrich is a great debater, but it’s incredibly difficult to actually like him.”
Really? How about this:
Romney, Bachman, Perry, Santorum, are likable folks, but polls show the Repub base finds it incredibly difficult to actually, you know, nominate them.
Does anybody at PJ media sanity check these posts? This is the second post in as many days telling us that Obama is going to win. This guy claims it’s because Independents don’t like Gringrich…last guy said it was because Obama led in the RCP composite polls. Really? Really?
Does anyone seriously believe that after 4 years of Obama-style socialism, the American people are going to re-elect him? Do you have that little faith in the citizens of this country?
Obama is unelectable. It will be a bloodbath…a continuation of the shellacking he got in 2010. Only this time it will be worse, because we will be able to actually vote against Obama…not some Democrat surrogate.
“1. Reagan clearly had a conservative record, Gingrich does not.”
Check out Reagan during his California time.
Is a person allowed to change their positions anymore?
These anti-Newt posts are comical. To whom is Newt not likeable? I happen to like the guy fine. Since I don’t know any of them personally, I have to take what impression I may form as to their likeability on face value. Newt strikes me as a very serious concerned citizen who wants to, with our help, rescue our nation from the liberalism which has engulfed it. I consider his organization of many years that has offered conservative solutions as proof. He didn’t just start if a year ago foreseeing its value for his political purposes. He is a patriot and I respect him and am rooting for him.
I believe Newt can handle the recent conservative onslaught against him by staying the course. Keep talking about his ideas and staying positive.
I have yet to meet a woman who really likes Mitt Romney. He reminds far too many of them of that cold fish boss they used to work for. The one who smiled with all the sincerity of someone who had learned it as another technique at a management seminar.
I favor Newt and Romney about the same with a slight preference for Newt because he is a fighter who has a better track record of getting conservative policies enacted.
But I think all of the speculation about “likability”, “baggage”, and “zanniness” is meaningless, except that it reveals the writers bias.
Explain why Newt is less likable than Romney. What does likable mean anyway?
Explain why Newt’s baggage is worse than Romney’s. Are decades old infidelities more important than being a Mormon? Is sitting down with Pelosi for an ad that caused nary an iota of change in public policy more damaging than Romneycare? And likewise for the other 100 things one or the other has done.
Explain why Newt’s live-wire brain is less electable than Mitt’s overly cautious one.
The concerted campaign being run right now is simply a spin fest by Ruling Class republicans. They are attempting to get the nomination for their prefered play-by-the-old-rules candidate. I may eventually support Mitt myself, but not because of what the spinmeister’s have to say.
I’ll be listening to what the candidates say. And the one I pick will be the one I think is best able to defeat Obama, not the one the failed spinners 2008 think.
btw, I’ve been knocking the radio bigwigs recently, but this last week or so, it’s pretty obvious that they all prefer Newt to Romney. That doesn’t make Newt the best choice either, but since they shape and reflect conservative opinion a hekuva lot more than rino operatives do, it doesn mean that the conservative base voters who have realized it is either Newt or Mitt are moving pretty strongly into Newt’s camp.
I join my fellow commenters in asking, “Are you nuts?” Gingrich is leading in the polls for a reason and all the insider naysaying isn’t going to change it. The only thing the naysayers can do is throw the election to Obama. Is it really worth that high of a price to you?
Newt and Nancy sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G. Oh I guess it was a couch. Oh and FDR was the greatest president of the 20th century he says.
I’ve seen a few posts comparing Newt to Churchill. Puhleeez. Churchill was a war hero and Lord of the Admiralty before leading his nation. Newt has never even one a statewide election.
And furthermore, Governors always make better candidates than senators and congressmen. If we had put up a governor or a mayor in 2008 things might be very different today.
More Gingrich and Reagan comparisons:
Reagan was once a Democrat, while Gingrich wasn’t.
It’s sad to see Republicans forget the relentless, hard work Rep. Gingrich put in from 1980 until 1994. His conservative efforts as a back-bencher in the House were adopted by Reagan in the 1984 election. He led the challenges against powerful House members like Jim Wright. And his crowning achievement was taking control of the House for the first time in 40 years. As speaker he pushed through welfare reform and a balanced budget, with a Democrat senate and President against him.
Say what you will about Gingrich, his record of achievements in the House with the odds stacked against him, exceeds that of any congressman in recent history. Just what has any other GOP candidate done that compares? Paul and Bachmann have spent several years in the House with little to show. Romney’s record as governor is even more dismal.
Not Likable? Gimme a break. Newt displays wit and humor:
“I studied history, and unlike the President I studied American history”
“And I’ve already said that if he wants to use a teleprompter that would be fine with me.”
He speaks of his past mistakes with humility. More importantly, he speaks of wanting the American people to be ‘with him’ rather than ‘for him’.