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Political Hay
The Hard Truth About Pawlenty
He simply wasn’t what the Republican nominating electorate was looking for.
He vowed to tell Americans only “hard truths,” but Sunday morning, just hours after finishing a disappointing third place in the Ames straw poll, Tim Pawlenty faced a hard truth of his own and decided to end his presidential campaign. Tight funds and a disappointing finish might have been the reasons he quit, but they weren’t the reasons why his campaign stalled.
Pawlenty was one of the first to announce his bid for president, giving himself adequate lead time to put together a solid campaign. Though his record looked impressive, the media labeled his personality as too vanilla. This, in and of itself, may not have been enough to hurt him substantially — especially pre-Obama — but his laidback demeanor and Minnesota Nice persona became a poor match against what the primary electorate wanted.
There was already one charming guy in the White House, sending a thrill up Democratic voters’ legs. And the Tea Party did not want someone plain vanilla in either the flavor of their conservatism or their personality.
While the media fixated on Pawlenty’s personality, the candidate himself didn’t seem to know who he was. Voters, like toddlers, need consistency. His bold truth-telling pledge seemed to disappear from his campaign speeches as quickly as it appeared. When he got in a good jab at Mitt Romney’s health care plan — calling it “Obamneycare” — he backed down from the comparison when in Romney’s presence at a debate. Pawlenty should have decided earlier in the game who he wanted to be and stuck to it. It also wouldn’t have hurt had he decided to let loose some confrontational rhetoric sooner, rather than later.
Finally, no amount of funds or straw poll finishes could compare to the effect Michele Bachmann had on her former governor’s campaign. All of his flaws seem to be magnified in her presence; from the outset, she outshined him in every way: Announcing her candidacy during a debate (as he looked on, feigning a smile), financial resources (she raised $4.2 million her second quarter), charisma (vanilla has never appeared next to her name), and debate techniques (she has been declared the winner or a close second to Romney in the last two debates).
This was never clearer during the last debate, which turned out to be more of a catfight, than a boxing match, between Pawlenty and Bachmann — with the latter walking away with the least amount of scratches. Whether because Bachmann is an attractive, poised woman, or perhaps because she is the superior candidate of the two, every time Pawlenty corrected her or lambasted her record, he ended up worse off — looking more like a whiny schoolboy or bumbling bully than intelligent peer.
Pawlenty’s criticisms of Bachmann weren’t without merit. He has more experience as an executive and a track record of getting things done. But his persona was so dull compared to Bachmann’s, his answers so varied between too nice and too defensive, he got lost in her shadow and never found his way beyond it.
In the end, Pawlenty’s campaign faced too many obstacles. The timing wasn’t right. Republicans want a dynamic cheerleader with a record of titanium conservatism — and all they got was a straight-laced politician. There is a case to be made that a blue-state conservative governor will be a good fit for the general election. But this particular governor just didn’t fit in with what the Tea Party-infused GOP is demanding.
About the Author
Nicole Russell writes from Northern Virginia.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (16) | Leave a comment
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Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 8.15.11 @ 6:31AM
He was another government agent who embraced the power of government, and he can't disguise it with a change of clothing.
POST American| 8.15.11 @ 7:19AM
---With the Globaization RED China TREASON
OP on track to have the States fast made
ever more dysfunctional and irrelevant, and with
those MASSIVE tunnels connecting Pigeon
Lake B.C. and Asia waiting there quietly as the
police state grid is consolidated ---we're ALMOST
ready to predict 2012 will be the the LAST
properly 'American' or even POST American
election.
IN FACT ---The Agenda openly calls for the EUGENICS front,
PRIVATE United Nations to be brought in as world authority by 2012.
Mike D.| 8.15.11 @ 7:36AM
RINO, nuff said!
JP| 8.15.11 @ 7:49AM
The first time I heard the name Tim Pawlenty was perhaps 2006. He was the 2nd or 3rd govenor to whole heartedly back the mitigation of Greenhouse Gases in order to "save the planet". The first govenor to push for Cap and Trade was The Terminator himself. We should remember that during the period 2006-2007 the media and Ruling Class offensive pushing Kyoto and Cap and Trade was at its highest. What really irked conservatives was the fact that 2 GOP govenors crossed the line. For people like me, Pawlenty will always be associated with with Cap and Trade. After Pawlenty, several RINOs jumped ship as well (McCain, Mitt Romney, Graham, Collins, Snowe all at least said we should consider the benefits. President Bush himself lectured Americans that we have to rid our addiction to fossil fuels).
Pawlenty, despite some very good accomplishments as govenor, showed he can be rolled. He is an oppurtunist, and has no qualms about joining Progressives and Statists when it suits him politically. He joins Mitt Romney as the kind of Republican conservatives wish to see retire altogether from politics.
Dave| 8.15.11 @ 8:48AM
Who?
Larry| 8.15.11 @ 8:49AM
Pawlenty has all the charisma of peanut butter. It's hard to understand why people were so high on this guy many months ago.
Trinacria| 8.15.11 @ 1:48PM
With all due respect, Larry, I don't think it's his lack of charisma that did him in (I couldn't care less if the President is as dull as an Obama press conference, as long as he keeps the government's hand out of my pockets and the mullahs off our shores); what did him in was his lack of character and principle.
On occasion, the American electorate mistakes charisma for character and embraces a candidate who has neither the necessary character nor experience, with quite predictable results (sound familiar?). When one has neither charisma nor character, however...well, one places third in the Iowa straw poll...
Dai Alanye | 8.15.11 @ 9:08AM
Pawlenty looked weak when he backed down from "Obamneycare," and looked weaker when he attacked a likeable, inoffensive woman. Almost as bad, he looked unauthentic, as if the real Tim Pawlenty had been left behind in Minnesota.
Americans don't like weak, phony Presidents. All the other factors are secondary.
B. Obama| 8.15.11 @ 1:26PM
"Americans don't like weak, phony Presidents."
I RESENT THAT!
Paula| 8.15.11 @ 9:39AM
Never saw the attraction for Pawlenty. If a man can't make a statement and back it up, as in the case with Romney, how will he ever be strong in the face of adversity from a foreign threat....or for that matter in the face of Congress when they're at loggerheads. Charming man, but not the guy for the job. Kudos to him for recognizing that now and bowing out.
Cromulent| 8.15.11 @ 10:50AM
In all the Pawlenty post-mortems, why do I not read anything of his call for the ending of ethanol subsidies? Surely in Iowa this had some effect.
TrueBlue| 8.15.11 @ 12:07PM
Because he also backed Cap-and-Trade, which says the exact opposite. He flip-flops, and people saw it.
Lesser Weevil| 8.15.11 @ 4:22PM
Just a pet peeve: the word is straitlaced, not "straight-laced." "Strait" as in tight. Straight-laced doesn't make any sense.
Tex Expatriate| 8.15.11 @ 4:28PM
This article is pretty weak. Pawlenty, for all his supposed strengths, compromised too many times with the Marxists-Leninists. Genuine Americans want a genuine American candidate, and Bachmann is genuine American.
POST American| 8.15.11 @ 11:29PM
"---Understand folks, setting up and then
blackmailing fugures to carry out your political
agenda is a very, very old, very pervasive
technique of control. Most certainly in this
age of DARPA surveilance grid Google, and
all the other modes of surveilance ----it'd be
a safe bet to say 2 thirds of your sitting government is
under some form of potent backmail."
-ALAN WATT
NEVER talked about, NEVER mentioned
in AS or media generally --even in this the
dissentless 11th hour of the Globalist-RED
China TREASON and EUGENICS OP.
--------------------------------ASTOUNDING!