[The following was the lead article on “The Michigan View,” an opinion portal of the Detroit News.]
The Republican Party battle between the establishment and the tea party took another twist today, with a would-be populist throwing his weight behind the candidate of the establishment, Mitt Romney.
Tim Pawlenty, former governor of Minnesota, has endorsed Mitt Romney as the Republican’s 2012 standard-bearer.
You might remember Pawlenty giving Romney a smack-down on his defense of health care reform in Massachusetts. He dubbed it Obamneycare. It was correct on its merits, and good politics too.When Romney and Pawlenty were brought together to debate, however, Pawlenty backed down – and eventually, out of the race.
Now, you might say that Tim Pawlenty was against RomneyCare before he was for it.
I live in Minnesota. I want to like Gov. Pawlenty. I really do. Though I’ve never met him, I get the impression (having talked with various people who know him) that he’s personally likable. And politically, he did as good a job for Minnesota conservatives as might have been expected during his eight years in office.
I remember a time when he said Republicans “need to be the party of Sam’s Club, not just the country club.” Nothing against country clubs – but they’re not where the votes are.
These days, the Sam’s Club Republicans are primarily upset about Obamacare. Pawlenty’s endorsement of Romney, especially in light of other non-Obama alternatives still in the game, suggests that he’s concluded, “oh, never mind. Let’s do what we have always done.” That is, with Romney at the helm, Republicans will return to the days of being not the party of new policy ideas, but the party that can more competently manage the bloated, corrupt welfare state.
What happened? When I interviewed Minnesotans for my Michigan View exclusive portrait of the former governor, one criticism was especially sharp: “He bends with the wind.”
Tim Pawlenty has laid down his marker. The future of the GOP, he has concluded, lies with the country club after all. Of course, activists within the tea party have other ideas.
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110913/MIVIEW/109130366/LaPlante–Pawlenty-endorses-Obamneycare#ixzz1XqP5C8Pp