by Jonathan Rauch
It has come to my attention that Buddy Roemer is running for president. Yes, it's true! Bet you didn't know. He is running on an anti-money-in-politics, anti-corruption platform, sounding like a cross between John McCain (when he was still John McCain) and Ralph Nader. Characteristic clip:
The reason the tax code is four thousand pages long and paid no taxes last year and made five billion dollars? It’s [campaign] checks. That’s whats wrong with the American system. It’s not free anymore. It’s bought.
OK, so he has some problems. He used to be a Democrat (he turned Republican in 1991). He's against ethanol subsidies, which Iowans like (though he's right). He's stale, because it has been 24 years since he was elected governor of Louisiana, and you can't be elected president in America if it takes you longer than 14 years to make it from governor or senator to president or vice president. (Look it up.)
Still, I recall Roemer as a smart and serious guy, a New South scion of the sort we could use more of, especially in the Republican Party. What he needs is a way to draw attention to himself and distinguish himself from the crowd. A smart and serious way. A gesture that shows he's ready to govern and willing to take a stand on principle. A gesture that puts evasive competitors on the spot. Fortunately for him, I have just the ticket.
A bunch of Republican candidates are positioning themselves in various ways against debt-ceiling increases, or setting conditions, or changing the subject to some reform or other. (HuffPo has a rundown.) What they're not doing is saying what any responsible president should say, which is that it is unequivocally unacceptable to default on the national debt.
Gary Johnson differentiated himself recently by denouncing an anti-gay "pledge" that a couple of other candidates signed (blessings upon his head). In like spirit, here's a pledge Buddy Roemer could make:
While I am president, the United States will never default on its national debt—not one dollar or one day. We will do what we must to keep faith with our people and the world. On my watch, the full faith and credit of the United States won't be a question.
Then he'd challenge the other candidates to take the pledge.
Interesting question: would they?
The Dish 