Topic: Decline of the West
After winning the New Hampshire primary with nearly 40% of the vote, Mitt Romney seems all but certain to be the Republican Party’s presidential candidate.
Here we have yet another demonstration of the perils of punditry. I was just plain wrong when I opined that Romney’s Massachusetts health care insurance reform would sink his candidacy. In retrospect it’s clear that it could have sunk him—but only in a scenario where he was faced with a credible conservative challenger. And no such challenger emerged. Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich—they all got their shot at the title and all, for various reasons, failed to make the grade. Perhaps Rick Santorum could have filled the bill, but he be emerged from the rear ranks at too late a stage to derail Romney.
So barring the political equivalent of a comet strike, it’s Mitt. What this means for the GOP, President Obama and the nation remains to be seen. But never fear! Despite my recent stumble, I’ll be in there punching and punditizing. And yeah, yeah: I know that’s not really a word…
