The New Center

We have a political situation that seems very familiar. Today noted liberal columnist, Leonard Pitts, declared that Ronald Reagan couldn't get the Republican nomination. This is hardly an original thought. In fact it appears to be a standard talking point amongst the Democrats these days. Obama himself said the exact same thing a few days ago and other liberal pundits have been pushing it for weeks.

This is all very reminiscent of 2008. You may recall that famous moderate Republican, Colin Powell, told us that year, that the Republicans needed to nominate a more moderate, centrist candidate like John McCain. He had run slightly to the left of G.W. Bush in 2004, or at least that's where everybody had him on the political spectrum. G.W. Bush wasn't really that far right to begin with. He had gone out of his way to compromise with Democrats and never so much as threatened a veto, always giving in on spending. But people still veiwed McCain as more moderate. And as always seems to happen in an election year, the messages were mixed. The left declared that McCain was just "Bush's 3rd Term." While moderates like Powell said that McCain was the moderate we needed to nominate.

And just about the time that McCain actually secured the nomination that Powell thought he deserved, Powell came out and endorsed Obama for President.

So for 4 years Republicans waited and told themselves they would not make the same mistake. By the time the Iowa caucuses came around, the positioning of Republican candidates had experienced a siesmic shift. The guy in 2004 that had been considered the conservative, Mitt Romney, was suddenly viewed as the moderate and everybody else was to his right. Romney has spent almost the entire time trying to convince voters that he REALLY is conservative, while the others took turns as THE conservative candidate. But Romney has prevailed, and he will most certainly be our nominee. So natually, it's time to "rehabilitate" Mr. Romney and portray him as a radical right-winger. I can't wait to hear who Colin Powell is endorsing.