How to Not Become President. By: Newt Gingrich

This post is a guest contribution from Joe, an undergraduate student at Georgetown University. If you are interested in submitting a guest contribution, send it to team@partyhardpolitics.com, and we’ll give [...]

Newt Gingrich’s intentions to gain the Republican Presidential Nomination have never seemed more hopeless than now. With a very brief chance of hope after a victory in South Carolina, Mr. Gingrich’s chances of becoming the Republican nominee seem nearly non-existent since Senator Santorum’s popularity with the Republican Party has been consistently climbing. A significant reason for Speaker Gingrich’s unpopularity is his past personal indiscretions. That being said, Newt’s presence as a presidential candidate at this point is only beneficial in that the Republican nominee (I mean, Mitt Romney) can see what campaign strategies would not work in the general election.

Speaker Gingrich seems to think that his two affairs can be minimized by convincing voters that he knew Ronald Reagan, and worked at his side. As pointed out by columnist Ann Coulter, Ronald Reagan did not know Speaker Gingrich, contrary to what the Speaker has been flaunting from state to state. In fact, in Reagan Diaries, Speaker Gingrich was only mentioned once, briefly. This is news to most voters, who heard from Speaker Gingrich that he and Ronald Reagan heroically teamed together to balance the national budget and keep unemployment below 4.2%. A stretch like this is not going to hold up in a campaign against Obama, let alone a Republican primary.

Secondly, Speaker Gingrich believes that he can win the hearts of Republicans with a bold description of what he will do on January 20, 2013. I have yet to hear something from the Speaker that goes beyond what he will do on Inauguration Day. This is limited to repealing several “job killing bills” and firing Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke, as if the other candidates wouldn’t do the same exact things.

By the time I heard Gingrich’s speech at CPAC, I could have predicted the whole thing verbatim. But, the Speaker thinks that just because he can present his policy opinions in such an ambitious, stylistic way, he will have an edge over someone like Mitt Romney, who is the only credible candidate. Republicans want to hear about the capital gains tax, a constitutional alternative to providing healthcare to uninsured Americans, and other things that a Republican President would do over four years in office. We only hear noise from Speaker Gingrich.

Now, the Speaker is nearly tied for last place with Ron Paul, his campaign is sucking money away from other notable candidates, and he is attacking credible candidates who could actually beat Barack Obama. Speaker Gingrich was never electable, and the best thing that he could do for the Republican Party now is to withdraw from the race and abstain from talking to the media until after Election Day. Instead, he is writing the book on what not to do in a presidential race. The first chapter: don’t have an affair, twice. The second chapter: don’t lie about knowing a conservative prodigy. And the third chapter: actually tell the American people what you will do better as President. How many more chapters are you going to write, Mr. Speaker? Drop out now.