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| Say "HI" to Mike Huckabee - Former Arkansas Governor |
I cannot think of any Republican whom I would prefer more as our next President.
I don’t think the Democrats have anyone, including Hillary Clinton, that would have a chance to defeat Mike Huckabee. Like many Americans, I am not that fond of our political class. It only rarely produces men of high character, but Huckabee is all about high character.
People sense that and, from 1996 to 2007, as Governor of Arkansas, the voters repeatedly reelected him. He became that state’s third elected Republican since Reconstruction and would serve the third-longest tenure in that office after Democrats Orval Faubus and Bill Clinton.
As far as politics is concerned, I rarely write about it. There is a legion of journalists and others who do, so my focus is on issues, not personalities, but there is no question in my mind that Huckabee has, through his radio and television shows, and his books, emerged as a major personality on both the cultural and political scene. I rarely missed watching his Saturday evening Fox News show since it premiered in 2008.
The reason is simple enough. Huckabee is an unabashed conservative. He advocates and articulates conservative values and opinions in ways that other political figures tend to moderate. Huckabee’s “big tent” is filled with people who believe in God, who are disappointed with Barack Obama, want a smaller federal government, a stronger military, and recognize the radical Islamist movement as the greatest threat facing the world these days.
Huckabee is a conservative Republican that makes it look and sound like fun! He has a lively sense of humor along with a serious grasp of the issues facing America.
Last year when Huckabee began to seriously lose weight again, I began to suspect he had 2016 presidential ambitions. When he was first elected governor of Arkansas, he was obese. In 2003 he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
He subsequently shed more than 110 pounds and appears to still be losing weight. A good Baptist, Huckabee has never smoked or drank. I cannot say that for myself, but I admire it in him.
I don’t know that America has ever had a President with a pastoral career like Huckabee’s. Jimmy Carter used to teach a Sunday school class, but Huckabee was a pastor at a Baptist church in Pine Bluff, Arkansas from 1980 to 1986, and in Texarkana from 1986 to 1992. He served as president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention from 1989 to 1991.
Politically, he has won many more elections than he has lost and I suspect that, having gone through the primary marathons in 2008, he has concluded that he is ready to campaign for the 2016 candidacy. He will, however, need to attract significant financial support to be competitive with Jeb Bush, the GOP establishment choice.
A January 4 article in The Washington Times says that he “will make sure that he can raise at least $25 million—or even up to $50 million by the first week of February—before declaring for the Republican presidential nomination…”
Who else do the Republicans have? Forget Mitt Romney. Just on principle, many are wary of “another Bush” running for the office his father and brother held! The others, with the exception of Sen. Ted Cruz, are largely careful to not offend any particularly large group of Republican voters.
Huckabee does not offend anyone within the conservative electorate and as a 2016 candidate is likely to attract not only Republicans, but independents, and even conservative Democrats. He’s doing very well in the early polls.
The mainstream media is going to have a very hard time saying anything harsh about him.
“Late spring” is not that far away and the fact that Mike Huckabee is going to seek the Republican nomination to be its presidential candidate brings just the right measure of political savvy and personal integrity that I have been waiting for since the days of Ronald Reagan.
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