When Will the Circus Leave Town

In his April 16th post, Ian Marmottin laments the current roster of GOP 2012 Presidential hopefuls.  I join him in his dismay.  I am a life-long Democrat and steadfast supporter of President Obama.  Nonetheless I long for a credible and responsible Republican candidate for President in the 2012 elections.  The problems we face as a nation are very serious and the divisions between us are disheartening.  We don’t have time for the circus anymore.  We need to see the best that both parties can offer.

While the Radical Right and Progressive Left have little appetite for the kind of compromise and cooperation that are essential to good governance, most Americans just want pragmatic solutions to our very real problems.  Whatever one thinks of President Obama’s job as president, he is sober, thoughtful and intelligent.  He is steeped in the details of our current crises. We need someone of the same stature from the Republican side to propose alternative solutions to those promoted by President Obama and the Democrats.  Let the American people see an intelligent debate, free of the hysterical and unhinged attacks on Obama that we currently hear from all the Republican candidates before us now.

I believe the current crop of Republicans hopefuls are just a side show and that we will see a more serious candidate emerge in the fourth quarter of this year.  Even though everything I see from GOP elected officials, both at the national and state level, appears narrowly targeted at a radical base, I’m convinced that behind the scenes the Republican power structure is searching for a candidate who can seriously challenge President Obama from the political center.  They have to know that there is no one currently running who qualifies as that candidate.

The mid-term election success of extremely conservative Republicans around the country has moved the Democrats ever more sharply to the center in American politics.   I continue to hope for a Republican presidential candidate that can pull the GOP from their cliff’s edge as well.   Please join the rest of us Americans here in the middle just trying to make it through these dark times.  Talk to us like adults.  Give us a real choice.  Trust us with the truth.