The American Spectator

p> THE SPEAKER, RECONSIDERED br> Re: Shawn Macomber’s There’s Only One Newt : /p> p>Newt’s the smartest man in the room, period. He’s savvy enough to realize he doesn’t have all the answers, but knows how to analyze history to garner clues as to what to do. Compared to anyone else possibly running for President, to me Newt’s a slam dunk. br> — John P. br> Elmhurst, Illinois /p>

Electing Newt to POTUS would be a disservice to both Newt and the country, in my opinion. It would be the ultimate example of the Peter Principle at work.

Newt is undoubtedly one of the smartest and foremost thinkers and strategists that the Republicans have seen in many decades. If there were a position of thinker in chief or chief strategy devisor, Newt would be the best man for the job, hands down. He is also a truly gifted speaker and above average motivator. Unfortunately he motivates the Democrats against him as well as the Republican for him.

It is also true that, in a couple of areas of public policy, Newt is as liberal as Hillary.

As much as I agree with Newt in his analysis of problems in our policy choices and, indeed, the body politic in general, I am not at all convinced that he would or could carry out the necessary measures to fix the problems identified. I am sure that the entire federal bureaucracy would unify and rise to stymie whatever he tried to do. I am not sure that Newt could overcome that unified resistance. An example would be the State Department or the Education Dept. bureaucracy and their bosses at the NEA. Newt has made wonderful statements regarding what needs to be done, but actually getting it done is another thing entirely.