Romney and Santorum in Iowa: A good day and a bad omen

By Bernie Quigley

For The Hill on 12/4/12

There is no need to consult the Mexican Grand Warlock to see a Romney in America’s near future. Intrade has him winning the Republican nomination at 81.5%. It was a good day for Mitt Romney yesterday and it will be a better one next week in New Hampshire. Possibly nothing could be better for the Republican party and America at this time of congenital leadership crisis because Romney has killer skills as a problem solver, akin to those of Cardinal Wolsey, Zhou Enlai or Dwight D. Eisenhower. America is broke in so many places and Romney can fix them because that is what he does. But he will need more than eight years to do so, so he must pick his VP wisely. His job is not only to rebuild the Republican Party but to rebuild America to find its way into the new century. John Thune, Senator from South Dakota, who appeared to figure prominently in support during in the Iowa campaign, may be the good helper in this as VP. But it is a problem that Rick Santorum came so close. Rick Santorum is the Republican's answer to Joe Biden, from the land where time stopped some 50 years ago.

The problems of our country run deep. I think the Republican establish so dislikes Romney and waged so much of its credibility against him - even bringing in Barbara Bush and Kissinger to oppose - because they know they are broken and do not want to be fixed. They have been cruising on nostalgia for two decades now and by sending in third tier types like former Senator Bob Dole have afflicted the world with the Clintons. Santorum is in that mold. This week David Brooks of The New York Times presents Santorum as the Republican’s working class hero: “The Republican Party is the party of the white working class. This group — whites with high school degrees and maybe some college — is still the largest block in the electorate. They overwhelmingly favor Republicans,” Yes, from the day of Babs and Riley in “The Life of Riley” or “Ozzie and Harriet” maybe; the land before internet, before grunge, before three-speed bikes, electric trains and color TV.

In fact, Republicans do have the avant garde of the working class, impossible to miss in the presence of Sarah Palin on the back of a Harley on Veteran’s Day, the Tea Party and Ron Paul’s almost dead even finish in Iowa. And it grows in the high schools and colleges. Had the candidates ever gotten to the hills of New Hampshire to town like Warren, Bath and Haverhill, they would see the Ron Paul signs. But it gives them the night terrors. Like Biden, Santorum is the antidote – the perennial Fifties candidate - to keep time from happening. To keep the present from happening.

But Romney is not afraid and it is possible today to see in Romney an American president. And in him, to see an agent sent by Bain, like the two young men who visited Mayor Shirley Franklin and helped restore Atlanta with her. And it could be seen that the Republican Party and possibly all of America still has a strong pulse beneath the ruin and is ripe for renaissance. And there is no better man to do it – born to do it possibly - than Mitt Romney.