Q&A Friday #10: Can Rick Santorum Be The Next President Of The United States?

by John Hawkins | January 28, 2005 11:50 pm

Question: “What do you personally think of Rick Santorum as a Presidential Candidate and do you think he would have a chance at election?” — Patton75

Answer: Personally, I like Rick Santorum and agree on a lot of issues. I even defended him when I thought some people were unfairly attacking him over his comments about the abominable “Lawrence v. Texas[1]” decision. However, I don’t think Santorum has what it takes to win the nomination or the Presidency.

In fact, the very thing that most of his GOP fans like about him, his “in-your-face” style social conservatism, makes him unelectable. That’s not to say that Americans don’t want a moral or religious President, because as Reagan and W. have proven, social conservatives can take and hold the White House. However, the American people don’t like scolds, being preached at, or politicians that they think look down their nose at them over moral issues.

So obviously, if you want to be a successful, socially conservative politician on the national level, it requires walking a fine line. You can take a strong position on values issues like gay marriage & abortion, but you have to do it in a way that doesn’t leave most people with the impression that you think they’re a “dirty sinner” for disagreeing with you. In other words, a lot of it is just presentation and the way you phrase what you’re saying.

Some politicians are good at this (like Reagan and W.) and others aren’t as gifted at getting their point across without rubbing people the wrong way (like Santorum or worse yet, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson).

So, summing it up, I like Santorum, but in my opinion, he doesn’t have much of a shot at the brass ring in 2008.