Barry and Nelson Redux.......

I cut my teeth in politics for the first time in 1952 when I was ten. My dad ran for the state senate from Fall River, Massachusetts. That year he lost 55/45 in a 10 to one Democrat district. Republicans customarily lost there by 9 and 10 to one margins. Even the fabled Joe Martin, then US Speaker of the House, lost in the city though he carried the congressional district because the suburbs in the region were heavily Republican.

 

In that same year (1952) Dwight Eisenhower visited Fall River and I got to ride in an open car with the then future president along with my Dad. It was a heady experience for a young boy. Dad had run for the state senate in 1948 and 1950 as well and had about the same results. After that the dye was cast.

 

My early experience in political life was normal. A young boy with his heart in baseball and not politics was the order of the time. Baseball now coexists with my interest in politics. As time went on my love affair with first the Boston Braves and then the Red Sox was cemented while my political orientation came on more slowly.

 

1960 was a real challenge because most of my friends were in support of John Kennedy for president. I was hooked on Richard Nixon. None of that mattered since in 1960 neither me or my pals could vote anyway (the lowering of the voting age to 18 had not yet happened.

 

By 1964 I had finally come of voting age. Like this year, 1964 was a seminal year. Initially the race for president occupied my thoughts. Early on I had decided not to vote for Lyndon Johnson. The remaining choices were limited. There was Henry Cabot Lodge, Margaret Chase Smith, the venerable Harold Stassen who was a perennial presidential candidate, Nelson Rockefeller and ultimately Barry Goldwater who challenged the GOP status quo.

 

Goldwater's nomination came against the entire GOP establishment. It was known not so fondly as the Eastern Establishment. My understanding is the so called establishment peaked in 1948 with the nomination of New York Governor Thomas Dewey. It was the precursor of the of the current GOP division of which Mitt Romney is the current representative of the establishment. The establishment is neither liberal or conservative. I can't describe what it is with any certainty. The former Massachusetts governor has been running for president since 1994 when he was an extreme liberal. I suspect he feels he has a date with destiny going back to his father's failed attempt in 1968.

 

George Romney was always bitter because the question of his foreign birth (in Mexico) was a dis qualifier from the mandatory "native born" admonition of the US Constitution.

 

Thanks to the efforts of the current inhabitant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue the 2012 election shapes up as possibly the most important election of my lifetime. We are at a crossroad.

 

Until the last few days I was unsure of who to go with for president. Romney has only one qualification for president, to wit, he is not Obama. Would Romney be better than the current White House occupant. Yes, by all means. If Barrack Obama is a broken leg then Romney would be a sprained ankle.

 

If not Romney then who? A personal acquaintance Ron Paul is probably the cleanest and most honest of the bunch, however age and positions on some foreign policy matters will keep him from a serious chance at the nomination.

 

Well then, how about Rick Santorum? He's not a bad choice but the question is whether he can put on a national race. My guess is no.

 

How about the bruised and bloodied Newt Gingrich. Three wives not withstanding he could be the best chance of electing a committed conservative to the presidency.

 

So there we are with choices, none of which are perfect.

 

Then again I am reminded Ronald Reagan was divorced and remarried, Jack Kennedy had a gaggle of beauties wearing out the entry mat at the White House and when I traveled the East Coast many many establishments gleefully pronounced "Washington slept here".

 

So now all eyes are on South Carolina. A solid Gingrich win could set the stage for a marathon.`A poor performance could spell doom for Rick Santorum.

 

Voting has been going on for a few days so far and the effect of Gingrich's drubbing of Romney in the debates in Carolina will not be reflected in Florida.

 

The polls close in a couple of hours in The Palmetto State and the race to the nomination will get very serious.

 

Have a good weekend

Ciao.......Moe