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politics and politicians Title: Warming to Ted Cruz: Where some see madness in his presidential run, a frequent critic sees some method I haven’t exactly been the friendliest conservative writer toward Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. In 2013, I repeatedly mocked his gambit to defund Obamacare. In one instance, I argued that if opposing this quixotic attention-seeking effort made one a supporter of Barack Obama and his agenda, then by the same logic anyone who votes to appropriate money to fund Obama’s salary supports the President’s agenda as well. In a second instance, I laid out how Cruz’s defunding movement could succeed in six easy steps, which included Joe Biden getting hit by a meteor and President Obama getting drafted by the Chicago Bulls. (Hasn’t happened yet.) More straightforwardly, in print and on television, I accused Cruz of deceiving his followers into believing that the defunding push succeed — if only his fellow Republican colleagues were as ideologically pure as him. After Cruz declared his candidacy for president in March, I argued that the Texas senator was more like Barack Obama than Ronald Reagan. But despite my consistent skepticism of Cruz, there is a case to be made for the merit of his presidential candidacy. The case goes a little something like this: In the age of Obamic overreach, the Republican Party needs a candidate who refuses to compromise, because any compromise will only continue the leftward lurch of our economy and our culture. “I prefer guys who don’t concede ground,” conservative columnist Mark Steyn told me last year when I asked him about the potential 2016 contenders. “One thing I rather like about Ted Cruz is he actually steps a little further away and says, ‘no, no, no, you’ve come this far with me, just come a little further, come a little further.’ Which I think is necessary now.” Say what you will about Cruz, he certainly has a debater’s ability to stake out a position and refuse to move from it. At a time when many conservatives believe that the Obama administration has moved the country far to the left, such a stand can be appealing to conservatives who think the debate must begin to shift sharply rightward. Cruz also deserves credit for standing on principle and not pandering to constituencies most candidates routinely bend to. In March, for instance, he was the most pronounced of the 2016 contenders at the Iowa Ag Summit in telling Iowa’s powerful ethanol industry that he opposes the Renewable Fuel Standard, a hobby-horse of theirs and a major issue in Iowa, which (in case you haven’t heard) holds a rather important caucus. The other potential GOP candidates either told the summit that they supported that standard or that they theoretically opposed it on free market grounds, but wouldn’t rush end it. Then there’s Cruz’ foreign policy. I recently sat down with him to flesh out exactly what kind of commander-in-chief he would be. He's hardly a Rand Paul- style non-interventionist, but he’s also not a big believer that the American military is particularly good at nation building or implanting democracies abroad. He has managed to carve out a niche philosophy that is hawkish in some areas, like in dealing with Iran’s nuclear program, but restrained in others where he feels there is no compelling U.S. interest to intervene, like in Syria. Whether you agree with him or not, his foreign policy worldview is certainly serious. None of this is to say Cruz is a great candidate for Republicans. He has often acted as a demagogue in the Senate. If he did somehow manage to win the GOP nomination, he would likely get crushed in the general election. But even those who have been critical of Cruz should be willing to concede that his candidacy has a compelling narrative. Poster Comment: "In the age of Obamic overreach, the Republican Party needs a candidate who refuses to compromise." Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread |
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