Recently, I was reading a post on the famous Powerline blog, in which the author evaluated Mike Huckabee and concluded that he was a conservative, but that he (the blog author) was simply not a Mike Huckabee Conservative.
This was a bit surprising to me because during the 2008 primaries Powerline portrayed Huckabee in such an unflattering way that it seemed they did not really consider him a conservative at all. So, I consider it progress that they have come around to the point of view that Huck really is a conservative.
But the comment got me thinking about why I consider myself a Huckabee conservative. Here are some of the reasons:
1) Social issues are very important to me. They are not the only thing, but they are very important. I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that we abort nearly a million babies a year in this country. It is also quite stunning (though obviously less deadly) that we have come to the point where the ability to engage in homosexual behavior is considered a "civil right" by many people. I don't support the police state intervening in private affairs in the home but the idea that the government should give acknowledgement and reward (ie Gay Marriage) to this type of behavior seems crazy.
2) The ability to articulate your positions clearly and with charisma is highly important to me. To a significant degree this is why Obama is President today. For some reason, Republicans seem unable to come up with leaders who have charisma - Democrats seem to find more of them. The last charismatic Republican President was Reagan - before that you have to go back to Teddy Roosevelt. Meanwhile, the Dems have FDR, JFk, Clinton, and now Obama.
You frequently hear the phrase "we live in a center-right nation." I think that is true, but if so, why don't we elect more Republican presidents? The answer is (in part) the Democrat's ability to find charismatic candidates and the Republican's inability to do so. Mike Huckabee is the most charismatic of the Republican candidates out there (yes, even more so than Sarah Palin - though I like her).
3) Fiscal conservativism is important to me. It is still a mystery to me why organizations like the Club for Growth decided that Huckabee was not a fiscal conservative while Romney was. Huckabee raised consumption taxes and used the money for road-building while lowering income taxes. Romney raised "government fees" which helped support the bloated Mass. bureaucracy.
Huckabee supports the Fair Tax. I agree with some critics that the Fair Tax will probably never pass due to the need to amend the constitution - but to argue that it is not conservative, indeed the most conservative tax reform proposal out there - is just not right. Furthermore, he opposed the bailouts and the stimulus and supports a balanced budget. There may be more fiscally conservative candidates (Fred Thompson?) but none that are a lot more conservative.
4) A strong foreign policy is important to me - But. The primary reason that Powerline seemed to dislike Huckabee was because they perceived that he was weak in the area of foreign policy. I do not know if this is true, but I doubt he is weaker than the rest. Looking at the major Republican candidates for president, I peceive that this could be the weakest area for all of the candidates. What has Mitt or Fred or Sarah or even Tim or Bobby said or done that would suggest that they would be foreign policy hawks? Powerline did a kind of tea-leaf reading deconstruction of some of Huckabee's statements and suggested that he would be weak on foreign policy.
It seems to me the only possible Republican candidates that we could count on to be hawks would be people like Dick Cheney, John Bolton, or maybe a David Petraeus. I would support these candidates with great fervor, but it seems to me that there is little chance for any of them.
I would respectfully point out that George W. Bush could have been given a "weak on foreign policy" critique before he became President. Teddy R. famously said something like "speak softly and carry a big stick." My hope for Huckabee (or whomever becomes the next Pres) is that they will adopt this policy. Frankly, I would not mind having a President who talks in a conciliatory way (like Obama, though not in quite the apologetic way that he has) but is willing to use American power to make it clear to our foes that we should not be messed with.
I don't disagree with the idea that Huckabee might be weak in this area, but I could go through a tea-reading, deconstructionist exercise (like Powerline did with Huckabee) on all the likely Republican candidates and come to the same conclusion.
Given the fact that I agree with his priorities and abilities in so many other areas, I am happy to pronounce myself a Huckabee Conservative.
Noland
Recent Comments