Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee’s message is simple: “I’m just like you.”
And it’s true, if you happen to be a Baptist-minister-turned-politician who enjoys living off a government paycheck.
We will soon see if the everyman Huckabee can “take this nation back for Christ” as he’s promised. He certainly is off to a rousing start, as Democrats nationwide are falling on bended knee, praying for Huckabee to the win the Republican Party’s nomination.
And let’s not forget that Huckabee is Chuck Norris approved! We all know that Chuck Norris doesn’t endorse, he tells America how it’s going to be.
Which is a good thing, since Huckabee isn’t crazy about specifics getting in the way of his populist class war.
“They don’t control me,” Huckabee once explained, trumpeting his own version of “Two Americas.” “I’m not one of theirs. I’m not one of those guys that just owe my soul to the people on Wall Street. I’m not a wholly-owned subsidiary of them. I don’t live in the circles of power in Washington. I really do come right up from the people.”
A couple thousand Iowa Republicans have been seduced by this message of independence. If the rest of the nation’s evangelical conservatives follow suit, they will have announced themselves as a one-issue constituency. That issue is Christ.
In an recent essay in Foreign Affairs, Huckabee laid out his approach for safeguarding America. Apparently, there will be a mass deployment of heat-seeking platitudes and little else. The United States, his piece begins, is “like a top high school student, if it is modest about its abilities and achievements, if it is generous in helping others, it is loved.”
It’s ironic that his confused essay read as if it were written by a high school student. War might not be the answer, but not many Americans are interested in being “loved” by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, either.
On fiscal issues, the former Arkansas governor has a long track record of tax raises and bolstering big government.
To deflect criticism on this issue, Huckabee supports the consumption-based Fair Tax, which would do away with the IRS, most taxes and affix a flat 23 percent sales tax (among other more complicated machinations). The Fair Tax is certainly an interesting idea, a crowd pleaser and about as relevant to today’s policy discussion as reinstating the gold standard.
But Huckabee’s appeal is that of a compassionate political Christian. Conservatives already have seen this ideology manifested in the exploding spending of the George Bush administration. They must be yearning for more.
It’s not entirely negative. Huckabee did once pardon Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. Which, I suppose, is less extraordinary once you realize Huckabee pardoned about everyone in Arkansas.
Speaking his very own truth to power, no one can deny that Huckabee has built an impressive showing for himself in Iowa. Still, one is left to wonder why a Baptist minister can claim to sprout “up from the people” any more than a stockbroker on Wall Street or anyone else, for that matter.
You could argue, in fact, that his overt mantra of “Christian” leadership is as elitist as it gets. More than likely, the average citizen — even the devout Christian citizen — does not desire a presidency taken back for Christ. Though many would probably desire a Washington taken back for the Constitution.
Dreamers.
Ultimately, there’s nothing inherently wrong with discarding conservatism — plenty of Americans would welcome such a change. And that’s why God invented the Democratic candidates.
Right now the only discernible difference between that field and Michael B. Huckabee is the occasional floating cross. Is that going to be enough? We’ll soon see.
Reach columnist David Harsanyi at 303-954-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
