As his rival Rick Santorum suggested in Thursday night’s debate, Gingrich is
regarded by people that have worked with him as simply too unpredictable to
be trusted with the highest office in the land.
“Grandiosity has never been a problem with Newt Gingrich. He handles it very,
very well,” Santorum remarked acidly, adding of the Gingrich speakership:
“It was an idea a minute, no discipline, no ability to be able to pull
things together.”
His 2012 campaign has amply displayed his weaknesses as well as his strengths.
His entire senior staff deserted him in the summer when he kept ignoring
their advice to follow his own or that of Callista, his wife. His refusal to
cancel the couple’s romantic Greek island cruise was the last straw.
He later failed to fill the petition needed to put his name on the ballot in
Virginia. His campaign manager was criticized for comparing the failure to
Pearl Harbour, writing on Facebook: “Newt and I agreed that the analogy is
December 1941. “We have experienced an unexpected setback, but we will
re-group and re-focus with increased determination, commitment and positive
action”.
The episode did not suggest a Gingrich White House would run like clockwork.
He has run largely on his wits and they have served him well. In South
Carolina they made all the difference. Two debate performances showed that
his finger is firmly on the pulse of conservative America and that he can
rouse passions like no one else in the race, particularly the steady,
unexciting Mitt Romney.
The second debate, when he turned a question on its head about the bombshell
allegation from his ex-wife that he had once requested an open marriage,
displayed exactly why he is a formidable opponent whose surge should not
simply be dismissed as a flash in the pan.
With his presidential hopes hanging in the balance, Gingrich struck out at the
“destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media”, saying it
was “as close to despicable as anything I can imagine”. The crowd rose in
applause.
The stunning counter-attack transformed him from potential villain to hero and
recast the whole 2012 presidential campaign.
Who knows where it will end. Democrats would much rather face a divisive
controversialist such as Gingrich, but many Republicans
are convinced he could eviscerate the president in the debates.
When he arrived in Washington, Gingrich was a laughing stock for some
colleagues. He was mocked as “Newt Skywalker” for his futuristic dreams,
like mining on the Moon.
But early on, he predicted he would become Speaker and it was he who laughed
longer.
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