Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has taken himself out of the running for president, but he says he believes he could have defeated President Barack Obama for a second term.I was returning home from the Indianapolis 500 when this news item came over the car radio. Everyone in the car immediately erupted in laughter. Hey, if he thought he could have won, he would have run. He spent months teasing us all about making a run and then turned tail as soon as he saw that the national media was going to scrutinize his record in a way the local news media has declined to do. The family privacy rationale is getting a little old. That issue was there from day one. Why bother raising people's hope you were going to make a run if you were going to let women who have played no part in your political career to date make the decision for you?
“Yes, I think so,” Daniels said when asked whether he could have beaten Obama on ABC’s “This Week.” “I mean no one can know.”
Daniels said that his decision to not run was based on his family’s desire for privacy and security, which he said would inevitably have been lost in a campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
“We've got young women, three of them that have been married not too long,” Daniels said. “They're looking forward to building lives, starting families and this was just a - a disruption that - that they were very, very leery of. And who wouldn't understand that?”
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Daniels Thinks He Could Have Beaten Obama
I don't quite know what to make of Gov. Mitch Daniels' suggestion that he could have beaten Barack Obama if he had chosen to run for president:
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4 comments:
I think you and your car full of laughter erupters missed this one.
I don't think Mitch was toying with us. The process of running is notoriously brutalizing on candidate and family. Everyone who's really fit for the office must feel some hesitation about seeking it for that reason.
I can easily imagine public Mitch hoping that private wife would catch the vision and lose her reticence, in addition to testing the waters for his own "is this worth it for me" analysis.
Yes, but he knew that going in John. Let's not forget he worked at a high level for two different presidents. I think his "testing the waters" was for stroking his ego and nothing more. There was no way he was going to get the teflon treatment Obsma gets from the national news media, and I think he's grounded in reality enough to understand that.
Gary,
I personally am somewhat sad that Mitch didnt run for the white house. As a republican and disgruntled former supporter of his. I would have loved to see him squirm under the national media spotlights. I dislike him and the president equally. But I will stand by what I said before. I will not trade one bad politician for another. I don't think Obama was scared of Mitch at all. I heard a rumour that some republicans convinced the Guv not to run for fear it would damage the indy gop. what do you think? I also think the guvs refusal to turn on Lugar will hurt him somewhat with the republican grassroots. But as others have pointed out he can't turn on Lugar.
And I could be Mike Tyson. Easy to say you'll win when there won't be a fight.
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