Saturday, March 3, 2012

Is Rick Santorum The Leader America Is Looking For?

One of the troubling things about Rick Santorum is that he wants people to vote for him because he will be a great leader in the future. For example, when Rick Santorum was criticized for his support for unions in the Senate, he excuses himself for failing to lead because he stood for state's rights in not supporting right to work in Pennslyvania:
"And you need to remember, I was from the state of Pennsylvania. State of Pennsylvania does not have a right to work law. The state legislature and our governor for a long time had rules in place that were inconsistent with right to work. 
"And I wasn't, as United States senator, representing the states of Pennsylvania going to go down and by federal vote change the law on the state. I believe the state has the right. If they want a union dues requirement, that the state should be able to do that."
Its hard for voters to support someone who couldn't be a leader in the past but promises to be a leader in the future when it comes to supporting right to work legislation:
"As a president, I have a very different point of view. I have already signed a letter and sent it to the national right to work that I would sign a national right to work bill because now, I'm no longer representing that state."
Santorum has never wasted an opportunity to remind people that he's a follower and not a leader. 
During the Arizona GOP debate, Rick Santorum defended his endorsement of Arlen Specter by explaining that the George W. Bush Administration instructed Santorum to support him so Arlen Specter could be chairman of the judiciary committee. He offered the same explanation when it came to explaining his support for the controversial No Child Left Behind by stating that that "sometimes you take one for the team." Not surprisingly, Rick Santorum gave the same excuse when explaining his vote for the NCLB. As a result, Mitt Romney wondered what team Rick Santorum was on because he voted for laws he disagreed with but still voted for it to "take one for the team" while calling himself the "outsider" who is capable of leading America.  
Rick Santorum has also failed to demonstrate leadership during this campaign by blaming other people for his problems. Lets look at a few examples. 
When Rick Santorum was criticized some statements about women in the workplace in his 2005 book, "It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good," he failed to take responsibility for the statements in his book by stating that his wife wrote the offending passage.
After Romney won the 2012 CPAC convention, Rick Santorum whined that Mitt Romney rigged the poll.
When Rick Santorum was unhappy with his own performance at the Arizona GOP Debate, he complained that there was an alliance between Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.  Both Ron Paul and Mitt Romney denied these accusations. Tim Pawlenty stepped in and affirmed that there was no back room deal between these two candidates. These accusations lead many people to believe that Rick Santorum was starting to get desperate.
After Santorum's failure to win the Michigan Primary, he complained that the Michigan GOP changed the rules of the caucus in order to give the remaining two delegates to Mitt Romney. The Michigan GOP denies the allegation.
Most leaders often stick by their controversial statement and decisions. Yet, Rick Santorum is busy retracting his statements. During the Arizona GOP debate, Mitt Romney reminded Rick Santorum that he endorsed him in the 2008 election. After the debate, Santorum publicly retracted his 2008 endorsement of Romney. Rick Santorum called Obama a "snob" for encouraging people to attend college and is now admits that it wasn't a wise thing to call the President a childish name. 
After a video of Rick Santorum emerged showing him making a statement that there was a line in John F. Kennedy's famous address that he gave to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association made him want to throw up, he now wishes that he could take that statement back.
Rick Santorum was not a leader in the past and he hasn't demonstrated any leadership skills in this election. Yet, he promises voters that he will be a great leader in the future. However, many of us are wondering when and if he will lead. People know that if a person fails to lead in the past, its not likely that they'll be able to lead in the future.

2 comments:

  1. I think you've summed up very well Santorum's fall over the past month. Sharing it on facebook. :)

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  2. Santorum disappoints me for his uncalled for comments and his, along with Gingrich's excuse that Romney has more money, well sorry, Obama has had hundreds of millions of dollars donated to him on the national scale, if someone actually thinks that they have a chance at winning while whining about the other guy having more money, you're not that great of a candidate. You can't win with loads of excuses, instead, one has dug a deep ditch and fallen into it.

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