Santorum Arrogance Will Be His Downfall – Again
By Chris Freind
The deceased had been incredibly beloved:
successful businessman, political activist, philanthropist and the
ultimate family man. Friends and colleagues from far and wide came to
pay their respects to one who had touched their lives.
Predictably,
the line at the viewing was long that night — more than two hours.
But hundreds dutifully stood, passing the time as best they could under
the circumstances. Millionaire CEO’s conversed with blue collar workers,
reunited grade school friends embraced, and many reminisced of good
memories with their mutual friend.
Standing for hours while
barely moving is tough for anyone, but especially the elderly, as many
were. And yet all persevered, because that is what’s required when
paying final respects to a good friend.
Well, almost everyone.
Turns
out one person didn’t feel like waiting in line like everyone else. A
person who thought of himself as above the “masses,” someone in a class
by himself. Someone to whom the rules didn’t apply.
That person? Rick Santorum.
Instead
of honoring his friend by waiting in line, he glad-handed some
“politically connected” people in the vestibule while ignoring others
who, for some reason, were enthralled to see an ex-senator. After
wrapping up his political agenda at that “event,” Santorum proceeded to
walk right down the center aisle to greet the widow and her family —
completely bypassing the line snaking all the way around the Church.
Incredibly,
to the astonishment of those watching, he then turned around and strode
away, winking and waving to those poor souls stuck in line. Total time
in and out: less than 15 minutes.
Good thing too, for he had to
fly back to Washington to vote on the all-important appropriations bill
and defense budget and… oh wait. That couldn’t have been it, since he
had lost his senate re-election by a whopping 18 points several years
prior.
Santorum’s behavior offered more insight into his true
character than any vote could provide. His selfish actions disrespected
every person in that Church, but most of all the deceased, who, despite
being a big Santorum supporter, apparently wasn’t worth two hours of
Rick’s time.
So why would Santorum deliberately
thumb his nose at the hundreds in line, many of whom had been his
biggest financial and grassroots supporters? The same people, by the
way, that he would later court for his presidential run.
Arrogance.
Plain and simple. (That’s the second unofficial definition of
“Santorum,” and given the vulgarity of the first, we’ll leave it at
that.)
In large part, Santorum’s arrogance led to his shellacking in 2006, yet, as we will see, it was a lesson lost.
It
was arrogance that led him to publish his book before that election,
despite advisors begging him to wait until later, since many parts, they
warned, would be taken out of context by his opponent (which they
were).
It was arrogance that led him to become a big-spending,
big-government Republican while labeling himself a fiscal
“conservative.”
It was arrogance to claim he was a “Pennsylvania”
senator while effectively living year-round — with his family — in
Virginia.
And most damaging, it was arrogance which led Santorum
to endorse liberal Republican Arlen Specter over conservative icon Pat
Toomey late in the 2004 primary election— which many Pennsylvania
Republicans credit as the final push that delivered Specter his razor
thin victory.
For those who claim Santorum had to make that
glowing endorsement because of his Leadership position, think again.
True leaders actually lead because they are following a vision; simply
doing the bidding of others makes one a Leader in name only.
More
significantly, it was Santorum’s portrayal of himself — contrasted
with his subsequent actions — that eventually became a sticking point
for so many of his supporters. He asked people to believe in him,
selling them on the idea that he was not a typical politician, but
instead a man of integrity, for whom principle always came before Party.
Since
political backbone is extremely rare, it’s no surprise that most
politicians do exactly what their Party tells them to do. But Santorum
represented himself as something different. As a result, his repeated
failures as a leader — coming up small when he was needed most — run
deep, and can be attributed more than anything to an arrogance that
playing both sides is a winning strategy.
Nothing has changed.
Fast
forward to 2012. Lost in the media spotlight of the Iowa Caucuses is
the fact that Santorum sold his soul right out of the gate, playing both
sides on one of the most important issues to Iowans — ethanol
mandates.
Santorum voted against the subsidies his entire
legislative career, which included four years as a congressman. Yet
because he felt that he needed the Iowa “corn vote” to be viable, he
changed his tune and pathetically pandered to the ethanol crowd in the
Hawkeye State.
Forget the fact that corn-based ethanol as a fuel
is an unmitigated disaster that has led to higher fuel costs,
skyrocketing food prices, inflation, and hunger, since a staggering 40
percent of America’s corn crop is used for ethanol production. And
disregard the fact that, primarily because of ethanol mandates, the
price of corn hit an all-time high just a few months ago. And ignore
the painfully obvious fact that natural gas — from the virtually
limitless Marcellus Shale under Santorum’s now-adopted home state of
Pennsylvania — is the single biggest key to solving America’s foreign
energy dependence problem.
The biggest red flag for candidate
Santorum is not a policy issue but a question of character. No one held a
gun to Santorum’s head to run for President, nor to compete in Iowa. So
when he made the decision to run, and campaigned as a man of principle,
the very least voters should have expected was a campaign of conviction
— not a politically-calculated flip-flop right from the get-go on the
single-most important issue of our time.
Rather than speaking
the truth and advocating a principled stand — which, ironically, are
what voters are thirsting for more than anything — Santorum chose the
easy way out by becoming that which he claims to abhor. And once one
opens the door of political expediency, rationalizing that it’s the only
way to achieve the next level, the door never shuts, and the slope
becomes too slippery to ever regain one’s footing.
Rick Santorum
worked as hard as any of the GOP candidates in Iowa, but much of his
“success” in that state’s archaic caucuses was based on a false premise
— that he has the character necessary to be a President of true
leadership.
Santorum’s sound bite line after the Iowa results was
“game on.” But as America learns about the real Rick, it will soon be
“Game Over.”
And that’s no corn.
Santorum Arrogance Will Be His Downfall – Again