In his recent column , editor Rich Lowry makes a comparison:
Like Dean, Huckabee is an under-vetted former governor who is manifestly unprepared to be president of the United States. Like Dean, he is rising toward the top of polls in a crowded field based on his appeal to a particular niche of his party. As with Dean, his vulnerabilities in a general election are so screamingly obvious that it’s hard to believe that primary voters, once they focus seriously on their choice, will nominate him.
Weren’t we all saying the same thing about another Arkansas governor, say 15 years ago? “Under-vetted former governor,” “appeal(s) to a particular niche of his party,” “vulnerable in the general election”…?
I remember now. Conservatives blindly wrote Bill Clinton off for the very same reasons they are now writing Mike Huckabee off. They were wrong then and they are wrong now.
“It’s now one of my favorite destinations for political news, etc.”
ESPECIALLY if you like Huck……..
I think the real problem NR has with Huckabee is that he truly does represent a new kind of evangelical engagement with politics that doesn’t fit in with their establishmentarian conservatism. He’s someone who cares as much about the problems of urban family breakdown as he does about traditional social conservative issues. And he appeals to those of us evangelicals who are as uncomfortable with the Republicans worship at the altar of Wall Street and corporate America as we are with the Democrats militant social liberalism….and the Bush foreign policy team has had a “bunker mentality” aside from the fact of whether the decision to invade Iraq was sound or not. The way Huckabee masterfully handled the “evolution question” in the CNN New Hampshire debate shows that he won’t allow his opponents to caricature him.
By the way…I just came across your blog via Desiring God. It’s now one of my favorite destinations for political news, etc.