by David Alvord
I think Huckabee has found his calling. He is a very likeable and heart-warming speaker. He has tremendous skill with timing and eye-contact. He seems so down to earth and presents conservative views with grace and a sense of peace. Contrast that to Glenn Beck's approach, "the sky is falling". I also like Glenn, but after watching him I feel scared. After watching Huck, I feel warm and fuzzy. And then he gets up and plays the bass-guitar for the grand finale! Tonight's show had a song "If ten percent is good enough for Jesus, why isn't it enough for Uncle Sam?". That's good stuff.
During the Republican primaries, Huckabee was the perfect anti-Romney. And Romney was the perfect anti-Huckabee. Where Romney lacked in personality, the Huckster was dripping with it. Where Huckabee lacked in intelligence, Romney answered with his dual-Harvard degree brains. Romney's religion was in the minority, while Huckabee's was in the majority. Huckabee had style while Romney had substance.
I give it as my opinion that those two, Romney and Huckabee, cancelled each other out and left McCain with the victory. Of course, there was Fred Thompson and Guiliani. But those guys didn't show up until after the first states had been decided. The momentum had been established. Huck stayed in the race just long enough to make sure McCain won. He was the Romney antidote and the best friend to the McCain campaign.
Then along came Obama who, as a candidate, had more style than McCain, Huckabee, and Romney combined. The cult of personality had arrived. McCain knew he needed style and so he threw a hail-mary and put in the unvetted and inexperienced Palin. The election became style vs. style...and Obama had boat-loads more of it. America confused the presidential race for "American Idol" and gave it to the ticket they liked the most and who "had the best story", instead of voting for the ticket that was most qualified. McCain had a hard time getting conservative passion...because he had been a "maverick". Well, conservatives held their noses (me included) and voted for McCain, but some stayed home. And a few wrote in Ralph Paul...I mean Ron Nader...and viola, we have President Obama.
I really think that Huck has found his calling. He is the perfect conservative/christain talk-show host. But he dosn't have the brains to pull-off being president with the current problems we face.
I give it as my opinion that if the economy isn't better in the next two years, America will choose substance over style. So PLEASE PLEASE, Huck, STAY ON FOXNEWS! I'll keep watching...
4 comments:
Dr. David,
I tend to agree with you that Huckabee has found his calling in broadcasting. He is the best communicator of conservative ideas the Republican Party has these days and his weekend cable show is a good forum to get those ideas across to the public. He is also able to communicate with more left-learning audiences, as demonstrated by his recent civil conversation about the abortion issue with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.
However, I would take issue with the idea that he is not intelligent enough to be president or that he is all style and no substance.
College degrees from Ivy League schools are not necessarily the mark of intelligence--not a practical intelligence anyway. Some of the nuttiest people I know are also the most highly educated.
Reagan earned a BA degree in 1932 from Eureka College in Illinois, not multiple degrees from Harvard. However, he had good old-fashioned common sense. I think Huckabee is also gifted with a large measure of that valuable asset.
He possesses common sense, stellar communication skills and a gracious manner that tends to disarm those who disagree with him. (You said in your post that just a few months ago you hated him, and I suspect that it is because you didn't give him a real hearing before. That's my story, anyway.)
I now believe that with his set of skills and abilities he could be a fine POTUS.
I agree with you on Huckabee's presentation. I don't get cable news, so I do not see him regularly; but he always seems to have a calm approach. I saw him a few weeks ago and completely disagreed with him; yet still felt that he is someone you can have a reasonable conversation with.
As you say, this is in complete contrast to Glen Beck (and most of conservative talk radio). I think that style of delivery has weighed the Republican party down and become a hindrance rather than a help.
Oh sure, Huckabee's smart. It's just that Romney's smarter. Not just because of his degrees. He graduated top in his class in both of those degrees, btw. But he also has a great track-record of turning troubled companies around...then turning the Olympics. He's the perfect guy to turn america around after a disastrous Obama term.
Sorry to be the dissenting vote here but I can't disagree more about Huckabee. The times I have watched his show I have found that I agree with the message quite a bit but find his delivery to be completely lacking and would hardly agree that he is the best "face of the Republican Party." As for a comparison with Beck, they are apples and oranges. Like comparing Letterman with Connie Chung. I agree that Romney was lacking in personality in the campaign but I wouldn't quite say that Huckabee was dripping with it either except as to come accross as a country bumpkin and that doesn't really appeal to anyone but other country bumpkins. I honestly have been hoping that he gets cancelled because he is about as good a host as Chevy Chase. Just my feelings on the matter. (Though I know several others that feel the same way.)
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