World Hopes U.S.
Republican Spat Results in Better Policies
“The world is
watching to see whether and what reforms the United States can achieve, and hopes
that the Republican Party conflict over the nomination of a presidential
candidate stems from a sincere struggle to develop better policies. Such is the
significance of electing a president who is in effect the leader of the world.”
The race for the U.S. Republican presidential nomination has
been a chaotic one. The favorite, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, has had to spend an excessive amount of time gathering
the delegates he needs to win because of a schism that has developed between “moderate”
and “conservative” factions of the party.
Like the Super Tuesday primaries six days before, the March
13 primary results were revealing. Mr. Romney failed to clinch the key southern
states of Alabama and Mississippi, indicating a lack of the qualities needed to
take the White House.
The Republican candidate must take the south, because he
will have no chance of winning in the Democratic strongholds of the Northeast
and the West coast. All recent Republican presidents have solidified the south,
and gone on the offensive in the northeast, Midwest and western states. Thanks
to superior finding, Mr. Romney is likely to emerge the eventual nominee, but doubts
remain about whether he will have the strength to win the presidential
election.
Mr. Romney’s mediocre results are supposedly due to (1)
being too moderate for core Republican supporters, as demonstrated by his
ambivalence on issues like abortion and health insurance, (2) his seemingly unprincipled
and constant change of mind, (3) being Mormon. Now there is an additional
factor - an improving economy.
Businessman Romney’s main selling point thus far has been his
ability to implement effective economic policy. That made sense, since a stalled
economy has been the focus of attention since the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
But now that the unemployment rate has begun to drop and
figures show the economy on the upswing, Romney’s attacks on Obama’s lack of
economic chops are being rendered ineffective.
In addition to a less convincing argument on the economy,
other shortcomings such as a lack of leadership have begun to surface. For
instance, the grassroots conservative Tea Party movement has criticized Republican
moderates represented by Mr. Romney for not being faithful to the principle of “small
government.” The Tea Party’s capacity to mobilize voters through new media,
including the Internet, makes it a force to be reckoned with.
Over in the Democratic Party, the struggle over party
identity between liberals and centrists has a long history. Sometimes the
centrists (e.g. former President Bill Clinton) win, and sometimes the liberals do
(e.g. President Obama).
Previous victorious U.S. presidential candidates have been
those who incorporated policies from opponents in and out of their own party,
making their campaign platforms appealing to the largest number of voters.
Being labeled conservative, moderate or liberal was no obstacle once the
candidate took office. Simply put, implementing pragmatic policies, both at
home and abroad, took precedence over the dogma and principles particular to
each faction.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Over recent years, grassroots movements like the Tea party
and Occupy Wall Street have shed light on societal ills like a bloated bureaucracy,
the chasm between rich and poor, the fiscal deficit, and diminishing individual
rights.
These are challenges shared by all of the world’s advanced
democracies. The world is watching to see whether and what reforms the United
States can achieve, and hopes that the Republican Party conflict over the nomination
of a presidential candidate stems from a sincere struggle to develop better
policies. Such is the significance of electing a president who is in effect the
leader of the world.
