Looks Like Mitt Romney is the Best Choice in 2012

It should be obvious to all that any of the GOP candidates will be better than Obama. Is that alone really enough?

If Obama wins, the country has no hope preventing the most predictable financial crisis ever. Things may not collapse during his next term, but with Obamacare going into effect, it will make it extremely unlikely to ever be stopped. We will not have the ability to reform entitlements before it is too late if Obama gets another four years to ignore the problem. I am not confident we have a choice that can win who will have the courage required to save the country. But we should look at what choices we do have.

First, I will discuss a few candidates that most likely have no chance. Jon Huntsman would be to the left of Romney, so clearly we can rule him out. Rick Santorum seems to be a solid conservative and has expertise on foreign policy. His downside is that he lost his last election and he has not had any executive experience. In addition, it seems that he hasn't been able to garner enough support to make you think he can even win the primary.

Herman Cain has proven to posess a total lack of knowledge regarding foreign policy, which is a serious concern given how the world has become far more dangerous in last few years. Much of that has been made worse by the current president’s mistakes. If Cain could have given us more assurance that all of the harassment claims are false, he would have been a great Vice President choice. He's way better than the current one.

Ron Paul has a solid dedicated base, but could never win the general election with some of his crazy positions. First, his foreign policy plans are a disaster and fail to recognize the world we live in. He is right to be concerned about the Federal Reserve policies, but we need to first focus on getting our fiscal house in order. Since we are a massive debtor nation, printing of money, given inflation is under control, is needed. Yes, we are risking a disaster with our current monetary policy, but we must be careful how we adjust the Federal Reserve polices.

Michele Bachmann is also probably out. However, since it is clear the party base wants a not-Romney choice, she could get another look when people realize Newt Gingrich is not a more conservative option than Romney. I think she should not be considered for many of the same reasons that Obama was considered to be unqualified. Both have no leadership experience, both like to take unreasonable positions and make themselves irrelevant failures.

We saw this in the Debt Ceiling talks. Both took unworkable positions. Bachmann wanted no debt ceiling increase, meaning an immediate 40% cut in spending. At least other Tea Party legislators supported the reasonable "Cut Cap & Balance" plan. Her crazy stances are OK in congress, but they make her unqualified to be president, especially now, when much needs to be done to save the country and will likely require working with the least insane Democrats.

Rick Perry seemed to be the best choice. All he needed to do was avoid being the highlight for the dumbest statements in debates, which he failed to avoid three times. He is probably the most qualified candidate who could win, and the most likely to have the courage to make changes needed to save the country. If he could surge again, I would go with Rick Perry. However, it is unlikely he can recover as most of the base is afraid he would make such huge mistakes that it would allow people to go with a proven failure like Obama.

Right now it shocks me that people want to pick Newt Gingrich. If this is where the Tea Party people go in 2012, then the Tea Party is failing as a movement. If we need to pick between Gingrich and Romney, it is an easy choice. Gingrich attacked the Ryan plan and stated on Sean Hannity the other night that he does not believe we can force changes to entitlements.

If Walker thought like that, we would never have made reforms to control the corruption caused by allowing public employees to abuse collective bargaining. The media refuses to educate people on the facts, to move people to be willing to avoid failing like Europe, and the Democrats are taking the position that they think the day of reckoning is far enough away it is better to lie and win now.

All of this means the next president needs to be willing to do the right thing, not necessarily the popular choice. Gingrich is taking the same position as Tommy Thompson on Medicare reform. They are both talking of making the Medicare reforms optional, which is unworkable as a real fix and likely just delaying solving the problem in full. Despite reality, most Americans see Gingrich as a solid conservative, when he governs as a moderate big-government guy, and fails to fix the big issues. That will set back progress for conservatives for years.

Right now, it appears we need to pick Mitt Romney, particularly if we will be stuck with the worst candidate again, Gingrich. Ironically, in 2008 he was the most conservative of the three leaders in the voting. I could be persuaded to support Rick Perry or maybe Rick Santorum, but it does not look likely that they will be able to overcome their issues. Romney is head and shoulder’s better than any of the other choices, outside of Perry or Santorum, as far as his likelihood of success in saving this country from a fiscal disaster.

Romney is also more likely to beat Obama in key states like Pennsylvania. I agree with Mark Belling that Gingrich is more likely to decide to try to fix Obamacare rather than repeal it, than Romney is.  Gingrich is likely to think he is so smart he can make big government-run healthcare work. Romney has been pressured so much on the issue he is much less likely to flip-flop again. So for now, I am supporting Romney for President, and I think we need to push the issue that Gingrich in not a more conservative option or a better option.