The Time is Ripe for a New White House Occupant

President Obama’s greatest strength in the coming November election is the weakness of his challengers. Only Romney would be a serious threat.

All signs point to change in American politics. The economy is stagnant, unemployment hovers stubbornly above eight percent and the national debt has risen to a gigantic $15 trillion. The optimism Obama brought with him into the White House has long since ended up in the stuffed animal graveyard of dashed hopes.

Over half of all Americans are dissatisfied with Obama’s performance as President. Apart from his healthcare reform — which is also controversial — the now unmasked mass-hypnotizer has accomplished little else. Barack Obama should be as ripe for removal from office in November as wine grapes ready for harvest.

But the wine presses are far from being filled just yet because the Republicans have not been able to come up with a convincing opponent to run against him. The seven challengers competing for the nomination to oppose Obama have been involved for months in an embarrassing primary election campaign. Even a bound and gagged Obama would have little trouble wiping the floor with them.

The only creative talent shown by the Republican Party lately has been in the area of congressional obstructionism. Obama’s most promising opponent would likely be Mitt Romney. That’s what they also thought in Iowa. And they were correct, although the little agricultural state crowned him winner by a mere eight votes over a surprisingly strong Rick Santorum.

The next stop in this wandering circus is New Hampshire, where Romney has a clear lead in the polls. The bigoted Santorum can only pray for a miracle, having campaigned almost exclusively in Iowa, plus he goes into the fight in other states both financially and organizationally handicapped. His surge will quickly lose steam and die.

Romney’s best first round performance consists of landing a solid stomach punch to his main competitor, Newt Gingrich. A series of negative political ads succeeded in driving Gingrich back into his own corner. It has to be evident to everyone by now how much material in Gingrich’s biography will become the basis for future attacks against him. He not only changed wives, he changed religions and his political views as well. Under any intellectual or rhetorical scrutiny, it’s obviously not a great idea to choose a serial hypocrite to send onto the battlefield as your hero. The race is already over for Texas Governor Rick Perry, who is obviously way out of his depth intellectually. For ex-diplomat and former Governor of Utah, Jon Huntsman, the race never officially left the starting gate. Michele Bachmann, the shrill shooting star of the tea party movement, fizzled and burned out quicker than a Fourth of July rocket.

That leaves Ron Paul. The 76-year old Libertarian fossil actually got 21 percent of the Iowa vote and is well placed nationally to continue campaigning. With his radical rejection of government and isolationist stance in foreign policy, he may frighten the Republican establishment but he appeals to many young voters. Still, it’s unimaginable that the Republicans would choose such an outsider to carry their banner into battle.

The currents became visible in Iowa: Paul’s angry anti-government philosophy, Santorum’s aggressive conservatism and Romney’s professional pragmatism. Republicans are more likely to coalesce behind the flexible Romney, but they don’t really like him. He has all the charisma of a store window dummy, changes his convictions depending on the prevailing situation, like an insurance salesman, and besides that he’s a Mormon. Despite all the money poured into his campaign, he has been unable to break through the 25 percent barrier. Republicans have been desperately looking for an alternative to Romney but have always ended up back in his corner because no one can really deny his business acumen. They can trust no one else to defeat Obama in a time of economic crisis.

But Romney-mania has yet to prove medically effective. The excitement he generates is much like the atmosphere one might find at a bookkeeper’s convention. Not that there’s anything wrong with that: Obama has already provided voters with enough charisma for the next several years.