The Death of a Presidential Campaign

With an “oops,” Rick Perry put a knife in the heart of his own presidential campaign. Now everything points to center candidate, Mitt Romney. This means a battle between a president who voters have grown tired of, and a challenger who doesn’t inspire enthusiasm in anyone.

“Oops.” Whoopsadaisy!

It’s not the most dignified text for a gravestone. However, when Rick Perry uttered that small word on Wednesday night’s televised debate in Michigan, it pointed mostly to the fact that his presidential campaign already was dead and buried under six feet of political earth.

The television images are downright painful. Perry, full of Texan self-confidence, points with his whole hand and expounds that as soon as he comes to power, three government departments will be scrapped: commerce, education and ….

Yes, what?

“Commerce, education, and urm, what’s the third one there? Let’s see...” You want to just scream and turn off the TV, but it gets worse. Perry is set on what he actually wants to put across and tries again. “Education, urm… commerce and, let’s see. I can’t. The third one, I can’t...Oops.”

It would have been thrilling to see how many TV sets were turned off out of pure shame in that moment, not to mention how many contribution faucets from Perry’s numerous and affluent donors. Who will stand behind the oops-man? He doesn’t need a campaign manager for his presidential hopes to be resuscitated, but rather a heart and lung specialist. Or preferably, a Jesus-like figure with the ability to raise the dead.

Before Perry’s gaffe, the debate would have been crucial for another candidate, Herman Cain. The personification of the American dream came from nowhere and suddenly became a favorite, only to be swiftly wounded. Besides the ignominious interview quote that China could acquire nuclear weapons, Cain stands accused of a series of sexual harassments, and before the debate there was much speculation surrounding how he would handle the subject if it were to be raised.

It went well, but when Cain successfully avoided putting his foot in his mouth, he tramped spiritedly into another turd by giving former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi the disparaging epithet “Princess Nancy.” Cain has been the Republican favorite by a slight margin in the latest opinion polls, but few think he is presidential material. There could hardly have been more support after the Michigan debate.

Since then, another flash in the pan, the ultra-conservative Michele Bachmann, by and large lost all support after a series of bizarre appearances, and now the Republican race is back to status quo. There are a number of spectacular candidates, of whom most are supported by the state-hating tea party movement, and there is Mitt Romney, who ought to be seen as altogether too boring, too middle of the road and far too Mormon to be nominated. But everyone believes he will be nominated anyway.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is a possibly electable outsider. However, his advancement this year has been more due to others’ mistakes than his own merit. Furthermore, Gingrich is carrying a worrying amount of political ballast after having failed battles with ex-President Clinton. Conservative voters are also more than displeased with his three marriages.

So, most likely the nominee will be Romney, a man who has had notorious difficulty enthusing the party’s right wing. There is a great risk that Republican voters will remain at home on Election Day rather than vote for Romney, and an even higher risk that he won’t create that fighting spirit, the momentum needed for the party to put pressure on Obama in next year’s presidential election. Obama’s challengers are characterized quite simply by an interesting catch-22. Because of the tea party’s easily offended conservative sensibilities, the candidate who wins Republican hearts must be so conservative that he or she does not have a chance to win the U.S presidency.

Today, opinion is still equally divided between the two parties. The U.S. is heartily tired of Obama and the economic crisis (75 percent of voters think that the country is headed in the wrong direction), but the alternatives seem just as frightening. Does anyone really want a president who is against same-sex marriage, wants to make abortion illegal, dismisses global warming and notoriously refuses to raise a single tax? Whilst two out of three Americans prefer a blend of tax increases and cuts to strengthen the budget, all Republican candidates, including Mitt Romney, declare that they refuse to consider higher taxes.

Huge dissatisfaction with the incumbent, and no credible opposition candidate — anyone who wishes to see the U.S. rise above the worst crisis since the Great Depression appears forced to direct their hopes outside of Washington.