Conservative Candidates Weak Against Obama

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

A friend, whose opinion I value in the extreme, continues to assure me that Obama will lose in November of 2012. I, on the other hand, continue to be dubious… also in the extreme.

Recently, I received an email from a conservative democrat friend who told me, flat out, that the republican field does not look well, at all, and he is beginning to believe that Obama will be returned to the Oval Office for four more years as a result. He wants Obama gone, too.

In our electronic discussion, I told him that many, many, conservative republicans cannot bring themselves to vote for Romney, under any circumstances, even to prevent Obama a return performance. I explained that I count myself among them. It is a matter of honor. I will, as I have done in the past, write-in the name of a solid conservative candidate for President, and move on.

And this is the problem the GOP has -- and will have -- in November of next year. There are innumerable conservative voters who cannot go against their conscious and do what they are convinced is the dishonorable thing… vote for Romney. This is especially true in the South. Add to that the Evangelical Christians who are never going to vote for a Mormon, conservative or not, and Mr. Romney’s chances of winning against Obama are greatly reduced. In fact, I simply do not believe Romney can overcome this disadvantage, at all.

I know this is an uncomfortable problem and one the RNC and the GOP are skating around, as best they can, for the moment. Nevertheless, it IS a problem and a huge one. Southern conservatives and evangelical conservatives are STILL looking for a conservative candidate they can support. Currently, we can see the polls telling us they have turned their attention to Newt Gingrich. They’re searching.

Thomas Sowell has written a must read article entitled: ”Will Republicans Blow It?” You’ll find the article HERE. Professor Sowell and I share similar concerns. I urge you to read this thoughtful and insightful article.

Look. Conservatives ARE NOT ALL ALIKE. Even the so-called experts on politics tend to lump all conservatives into one group. That is a terrible mistake.

We don’t talk much about it these days, but “honor” is still a really big deal in the South. Too, in the South, we have a strong distaste for the federal government, which we still feel, to one degree or another, is an occupying force in our land. That feeling is reinforced every time we consider all the US military bases on southern soil. It is a tactic borrowed from the Roman Army of ancient times. Keep the occupied pacified by a continuous show of force on their home soil.

So, we have honor, we have a vague feeling of oppression, and then there is -- RELIGION.

Politics is seen in the South as a dirty, low down, occupation ranking right up there with prostitution. Southern Christian conservatives want nothing to do with it. Those who serve in federal public office are frowned upon and cast as rogues shilling for the Federal Government.

Now, you may not like what you are reading here, but this is my opinion based on over seven decades of life in my beloved South. I know my people.

Anytime a southern conservative stands for office you can bet he or she is not the best candidate conservatives can offer because the best qualified persons for the job will not run for fear of sullying themselves with the filth of the second oldest profession.

Add to the above the deep distrust of northern (especially northeastern) candidates by southern folk and you can see the grave disadvantage Mr. Romney has in the South. Without the South, Mr. Romney hasn’t a chance of beating Obama.

Why are northeastern candidates frowned upon in the South? “The War of Northern Aggression” -- erroneously called the American Civil War and sometimes referred to as “The War for Southern Independence.” So many US troops, from the northeastern states, committed what today would be labeled as war crimes in the South during that war (and even worse during the so-called Reconstruction Era) that the contempt for them has been handed down through the generations and is still extremely strong today.

Voting is a privilege I do not take lightly. Last week, I was discharged from the hospital. That day there was a municipal election in our town. My wife drove me directly from the hospital to the polling place where I cast my ballot from the front seat of my wife’s Buick. (Curbside Voting) THEN, I went home.

I vote. I would be a very small man, indeed, if I did not vote – yet -- continued to grind out commentary after commentary criticizing office holders. For me, it is a matter of honor.

In November of 2012, I will do the honorable thing at the ballot box.

J. D. Longstreet