Moderate political commentators continue to lament Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels’ decision to forego a presidential run.
At The Washington Post, Ezra Klein cautions that Daniels’ backers underestimated the tough questions Daniels would face for his role as George W. Bush’s budget director. Daniels helped craft and sell the Bush tax cuts even as he low-balled the cost of the war in Iraq. Together, those policies were key components of the big deficits during the Bush administration, which wouldn’t play well in some GOP circles.
Then Klein added this: “But there’s nevertheless good reason to lament Daniels’ absence from the race. Over the past two years, many in the GOP have taken their opposition to Obama’s policies so far that they’ve tipped into a kind of denial about the underlying problems themselves. Republicans have a plan for opposing the Affordable Care Act, for instance, but nothing for covering the uninsured.
“They have attacked both Obama’s stimulus proposals and the very idea of Keynesian stimulus proposals, but that’s left them with few answers for the unemployed. Daniels, however, was charting a different course.
“In a series of Op-Eds for the Wall Street Journal, Daniels broke with the pack and began challenging Obama’s policies by promoting solutions of his own. In September of 2010, he wrote about the need for a second stimulus, based around a payroll tax cut and full expensing of capital investments made by businesses. Both policies later turned up in the December tax deal.
“In February of 2011, by which time “repeal and repeal” had become the Republican Party’s consensus health-care policy, Daniels wrote an article laying out six reforms that he thought could make the Affordable Care Act more appealing to conservatives — or at least to him.
“You didn’t have to agree with Daniels’ policy proposals to prefer his style of constructive engagement to the ‘just say no’ attitude that had become dominant in the Republican Party.”
At Realclearpolitics, Mark Salter, a key campaign adviser to John McCain in 2008, picks up right where Klein leaves off:
“I am disappointed by his decision, and I’m sorry for the country, too. No other prospective candidate had a record of accomplishment as impressive as his. More importantly, I think Mitch Daniels has personal qualities that Americans yearn for in public leaders even as our political culture impedes them.
“…I do know that there were a great many Republicans, who, if not members of Rubin’s circle, were certainly enthusiastic about a Daniels’ candidacy. Had he run, I would have wagered on his nomination. More importantly, so would have a pretty wide circle of Republican leaders and financial heavyweights — who have much greater credibility and resources to wager than I — as well as grass-roots enthusiasts for Daniels, of whom there are considerably more than (some agitated conservatives seem) to believe.
“I suspect ‘tin ear’ is the attribute (critics assign) to politicians who seem to speak their minds sincerely. Honesty would be another way to put it. Apparently, Daniels’ suspect judgment is apparent in the fact he didn’t feel always obliged to heed (some right-wingers’) counsel with regard to prioritizing the nation’s interests that need the most attention. Others might call it common sense.
“I take it that (those on the right weren’t) pleased when Gov. Daniels called for a cease-fire in the culture wars. But he didn’t say this in a vacuum; he suggested that the nation’s debt crisis should be the first priority of the next Republican president. On that, I’m quite certain Daniels speaks for the majority point of view in the party and the country.
“I also believe Daniels would have been our best candidate in the general election. President Obama will not be easily defeated. He will have unprecedented resources at his disposal, a talented and experienced campaign staff, and his exceptional discipline as a campaigner. I’m also pretty certain he will continue to enjoy the advantage of a press corps that puts its finger on the scales for his benefit.
“The election will be decided by independents. To my mind, Daniels, more than any other candidate, would be the Republican who most appealed to them, even those hard-to-motivate independents who are not quite completely apathetic but often despair of any politician ever being on the level.”
