We have no intention of going on too much today because the
program primarily centered around the presidential campaign, and as Mr. Todd said,
there are ninteen months until the election so we have a little time. However,
having said that, we’ll offer a few thoughts on one guest in particular. First,
it was no surprise that Gov. John Kasich of Ohio (R) was not going to give a
scoop to “Meet The Press” in the form of an announcement on whether he’s
running for president or not. Given the fact that he was a commentator on the
Fox News Network, it would stand to reason that If anyone is going to get scoop,
it would be Fox.
But he sure did sound like a candidate for president, and in
our humble opinion he is really the one that can give Hillary Clinton the most
trouble. He's the governor of the quintessential swing state that plays a vital
role in any candidate’s hopes for presidential victory. He's a conservative but
he is also a pragmatist, which answers the question of why he took the money
for Medicaid under the construct of the Affordable Care Act, much to the
chagrin of his conservative compatriots. But Mr. Kasich sees it as most people
do, “Why wouldn't you take that money?” The federal government is helping the
state government help its most struggling citizens. He said it himself that there is a way to compromise without
having to sacrifice your principles.
Governor Kasich said that the two most important considerations as to
whether he is going to run is first his family, and secondly, (his words – paraphrasing)
what the Lord is guiding him to do in his life. Of course you always have to
consider the scrutiny that your family will have to endure as you the candidate
run through the gauntlet of the press and campaign trail. The other
consideration whether the Lord has indicated if this is what he should do with
his life, take it easy hardcore liberals that the statement came off as it was
coming more from the place in the strength that he finds in being religious,
not some direct call from the God, while he has a crazy look in his eye. But make no mistake, God’s going to
tell him to run.
The only problem we would have with a Kasich Administration
is that it would preside over a Republican Congress, and he’d rubberstamp
anything that they put forward then rest on them the justification for it if it
went south. It’s happened before.
Chuck Todd mentioned that there were nineteen prospective Republican candidates
at this point and not at anytime we would presume to tell you how to vote, but if
you're considering Ted Cruz or Ben Carson or Mike Huckabee, then you shouldn't
be really reading this blog. We
all know that we like their collective entertainment value, but taking them
seriously as presidential material is just downright scary. Needless to say, they’ve all rendered
themselves disqualified to hold any public office, forget the oval one.
The other little bit about today's program with regard to
presidential politics all centered around Hillary Clinton's rollout of her
campaign. Some on the panel thought it was too scripted, the journey to Iowa
too scripted, and that there were opportunities lost, as Mr. Todd said. To all of
which we say, “ Of course it was scripted.” She's just getting out on the road
– why make an early mistake if you can avoid it. Also, she's not really taking the temperature of the people
so much as she is taking the temperature of the press coverage about the
campaign launch.
The launch was what it was; all that matters is that we know
she is official in the race. Here are two things to keep in mind in these early
stages, 1) Mrs. Clinton put out broad strokes of what her campaign is going to
be about, which is restoring the middle class. However, she really needs to
start refining of vision and message quickly or everyone is going to view her
candidacy simply as an attempted land grad. On the other side of that,
Republicans need more than Hillary bashing and greedy tax policies. That's simply
not going to fly. But as we said,
there are nineteen months to go so we’re not going to waste too much energy
today going on about a race that's just started.
Panel: Helene Cooper, The New York Times; David Axrelrod, former advisor to
President Obama; Kathleen Parker, The Washington Post; Steve Schmidt, former
John McCain campaign manager.
One last thing: We
agree with Steve Schmidt and David Axelrod that what Florida postman Doug
Hughes did - flying his Gyro copter into Capitol airspace to deliver a letter to
bring attention to the reform of campaign finance was reckless and showed an
extremely poor lack of judgment; he could have been shot down. Security became
a large part of the story, and his message got lost in the on-air mail. Granted,
we all know that this country desperately needs campaign finance reform in the
biggest way because billionaires are essentially owning their own political
candidates. However, the one question that’s been sticking with us throughout
the story is where can we get a Gyrocopter? How cool is that?
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