Payne: Mighty Mitch strikes out ( The Michigan View 05.22.11)

Posted by hpayne on May 22, 2011

But there is no joy in Midwestville — mighty Casey has struck out.

Quietly, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels shocked the Republican presidential race late Saturday night with a decision not to run in 2012. Daniels was one on a short list of gubernatorial power players (Rick Perry, Chris Christie) that conservatives – especially industrial state conservatives – have been pining for with so much of the GOP field compromised by political missteps.

Daniels was a particular favorite of Midwesterners who covet governance from a political executive from the industrial heartland with a record of common sense. While Daniels departure will surely benefit another Midwesterner, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, it is notable that “Mitch the Knife” – a nickname gained from his bold stands on spending, unions, and tax policy – is the FIRST name on the lips of Republicans like Michigan Governor Rick Snyder when they point to a governor they most admire.

After a week that spelled the end to Donald Trump’s circus candidacy – and that saw Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich further alienate themselves from the Republican base – momentum seemed to build for Daniels’ sober persona.

Daniels’ long-rumored lack of family support was the deciding factor. But Daniels also has a few policy skeletons in his closet that may have also been a factor.

“The counsel and encouragement I received from important citizens like you caused me to think very deeply about becoming a national candidate,” Daniels wrote in openly apologizing to supporters for the Big Letdown. “In the end, I was able to resolve every competing consideration but one. . . . the interests and wishes of my family is the most important consideration of all. If I have disappointed you, I will always be sorry.”

“I love my country; I love my family more,” he added, confirming reports that his wife and four daughters had no stomach for a presidential bloodbath that might have re-opened old wounds of his rollercoaster marriage to his wife, Cheri.

But was family the only deciding issue?

In addition to his marital soap opera, Daniels has raised social conservatives’ ire for calling for a “truce” on social issues like abortion, and he has been assailed by some fiscal conservatives for implementing a state cigarette tax to expand Medicaid – a move heavily subsidized by federal taxpayers. In a time of fiscal crisis, the latter has drawn the most concern for its similarities to one aspect of Obamacare. And with the latest Rasmussen poll showing 81 percent of Republicans and 53 percent of independents wanting Obamacare repealed, Mitch – like Mitt – has an Obamacare problem.

Given the roasting Romney has received on the issue, could this have given Indiana’s CEO pause?

“Those voters will cringe when President Obama turns to Governor Daniels in a presidential debate and says: ‘Mitch, all your talk about repeal is just cynical politics. Your health-care plan is not that different from mine,'” writes Cato’s Michael Cannon in National Review. “‘You expanded Medicaid to people with higher incomes than my plan requires. You are implementing my plan in your state right now.”

Ouch. Still, Daniels’ offense is a minor speed bump compared to Mitt’s whole-hog Romneycare. Indeed, others at National Review disagree with the Cato critique. “On the contrary, (his) subsidized prescription-drug program and new health savings accounts (are) designed to get people off of Medicaid,” writes NR’s Mark Hemingway.

National Review editor Rich Lowry looked at Daniels’ record and cheered: “More than any other Republican officeholder, Daniels points the way ahead for his bedraggled party. He’s a fiscal conservative who believes not just in limiting government, but in reforming it to address people’s everyday concerns; he’s a politician of principle.”

Daniels was a home run, in other words. Until he struck out.

“The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity,” wrote National Review’s Daniel Foster – quoting the poet W.B. Yeats and echoing conservative disappointment. They are back in the woods today, beating the bushes for leadership in a crucial presidential race that must defeat Barack Obama – and his Obamacare monster.

The ghost of Bob Dole in 1996 looms ever larger.

 

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