When the Republicans Sack Extremists

In the United States, the Republican primaries are in full swing. Not really happy with Mitt Romney, who is too moderate for them, Republican voters are trying to find themselves a very right-wing alternative. After Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich has come to play the gatecrasher.

Russian Mountains in the Polls

Though he remains the favorite, Mitt Romney is not and will probably never be the candidate close to Republicans’ hearts. In effect, the former governor of Massachusetts is not considered sufficiently right-wing for the Republican base. In his state, he put in place a health insurance plan extremely similar to the one put in place by Barack Obama, and on many issues, he has changed positions to please those who are more conservative, who distrust him.

As a result, though he has retained a strong position in the polls since the beginning of the campaign, Republican voters seem to hope that a more right-wing candidate will succeed in muscling in. Michele Bachmann seemed briefly like she could do it, but, in the tradition of Sarah Palin, who declined to put herself forward, the other tea party muse lacks credibility. Her shortcomings have appeared during the debates and throughout the campaign, bursting her bubble.

Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, in the wake of the announcement of his candidacy this summer, seemed able to lead an irresistible campaign by pushing the economic success of his state and a sufficiently noticeable conservatism, but several errors knocked him down. Then, Herman Cain, an eloquent black entrepreneur, briefly took the lead in the race before being caught up in blunders and affairs of sexual harassment.

A Moderate Candidate Emerges from a Campaign Which Is Anything But

Surprisingly, it is finally Mitt Romney who remains the favorite, although Newt Gingrich has passed (temporarily?) in front of him. Not loved by the most conservative, he has not slipped up, nor does it seem like he will, judging by his campaign in 2008. The progressive self-elimination of all his rivals seems to leave him today a path which could even allow him to win the primaries without shifting too far to the right.

And yet, the campaign this autumn appears surprising to Europeans. While the United States still has a deficit close to 10 percent of the GDP, and the country has come within an inch of defaulting, the propositions of Mitt Romney’s two principal competitors are quite a shock. Herman Cain proposes, in effect, a 9-9-9 plan which would introduce a single corporate, income and sales tax at a flat rate of nine percent.

With this plan, the taxes on the wealthiest (taxed up to 35 percent by the federal government, plus local taxes) and on businesses would be radically reduced and replaced by a VAT (value added tax) which would shock the world. You have to ask what world the Republicans are living in to propose such an unfair and regressive plan! Worse still, for the moment, among the Republican candidates, only Mitt Romney has not ceded to the promises of a flat tax, which is equally backed by Perry and Bachmann.

The campaign of the Republican primaries demonstrates the extent to which the tea party has influenced the mighty Republican party for the worse, but it is undoubtedly excellent news for Barack Obama who will be able then to side with the 99 percent, even if he has disappointed greatly.