HOWARD FINEMAN’S TAKE ON THE SRLC
I suspect I do not agree often with Howard Fineman based on the tone of this Newsweek article. However, he made two points worth repeating.
His first was about Ron Paul:
Still, the presidential race is eons in the distance, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a wide-open contest at the start. That is good news for libertarian Ron Paul, who, startlingly, finished just one vote behind Romney. His organizers are the most intense of all.
This may well be great news. If Paul and former NM Governor Gary Johnson can make the deal and run together as a libertarian ticket, they may have a force to reckon with.
Fineman’s OTHER observation concerns my other political hero: Bobby Jindal.
Other than former Oklahoma congressman J. C. Watts and RNC Chairman Michael Steele, who spoke to the gathering, I don’t think I saw a single African-American at the event. I’m not sure I saw a Latino or Asian person there, either—except for Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. I shouldn’t have expected anything else, of course: “Southern, white, Republican, conservative” is a quadruple redundancy. They have as much right to hold a meeting as any other group. But I couldn’t escape the feeling that, as amped up and potent as this crowd felt inside the ballroom, there is another, larger world—and another generation—rising elsewhere.
See what I mean about tone? I would think there were many African-American, Latino and Asian attendees at the SRLC. If you were one, write to Fineman. But Fineman makes a point that if someone like Romney were to be nominated, he may well seek out Jindal and persuade him to be his running mate for demographic reasons. There are better reasons. I think the nation might be in for a surprise.
