COMMENTARY | Ahead of his planned official announcement in Iowa Monday that he is going to run for the GOP nomination for president, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty released "A Time for Truth" on his website and YouTube.
"It's long past time for America's president -- and anyone who wants to be president -- to be straight with the American people," Pawlenty states in his pre-announcement announcement video, reports USA Today.
Sounds good, looks good on paper. Unfortunately, while entering the presidential regatta with visions of winning the race, by choosing to christen his campaign ship "A Time for Truth," Pawlenty beat the DNC to the punch and smashed a serious hole into his own presidential hopeful hull.
In the pages of his pre-campaign released book, "Courage to Stand: An American Story," Pawlenty felt a telling need to condemn the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and anyone who supported or voted for the measure. During his 23-minute campaign speech in Iowa, Pawlenty again felt compelled to assail TARP and those who would support such measures, saying, "Politicians are often afraid that if they're too honest, they might lose an election" and he vowed that if he were elected, "the era of bailouts, handouts, carve-outs are over," according to the Wall Street Journal. This is quite a forceful and firm statement to be made by someone who was once quite anemic and flaccid.
As a presidential candidate, Pawlenty says "No more subsidies, no more special treatment, no more Fannie and Freddie, no more TARP, and no more 'too big to fail,'" reports the Washington Post. However, as John McCain's campaign surrogate and potential vice presidential candidate in 2008, Pawlenty demonstrated that he is all too willing to sacrifice his courage to stand for what he believes in if it means having a chance to become a vice presidential running mate. Further evidence that Pawlenty cannot practice what he preaches: As Minnesota's governor, he signed an executive order to block implementation of Obamacare yet applied for education funds himself and allowed state agencies to accept $10 million in grants allocated by Obamacare.
The biggest weakness for Pawlenty is his weakness. Despite his exposure during the presidential campaign of John McCain, the former governor still struggles for recognition. He is the invisible man, the unbelievable man, the unmemorable man. Despite his many efforts to stand out in the presidential hopeful crowd, Pawlenty has unwittingly defined the "generic Republican" candidate Gallup predicted may stand a chance against Obama. Sadly, where his objective is to be seen as the exciting anti-Obama contender, he is only capable of being the boring antithesis, as noted by Gallup.
Right now, Tim Pawlenty surmises that other politicians are afraid that if they are too honest "they might lose an election." Perhaps this strong presidential armor of truth and morality with which Pawlenty is attempting to clad himself for battle would prove more formidable had we not already come to know that the man inside is weak and all too willing to be less than honest in order win an election.
As a presidential hopeful, Pawlety's challenges are clearly three-fold: One, he is a relatively obscure and unimpressive man who is, Two, willing to change his moral course at the expense of someone else if it would, Three, further the aspirations of his inconsistent political direction. As deadly as these many tumors may be to Pawlenty's presidential campaign, perhaps it is no coincidence that, according to the Huffington Post, his official printed announcement in Minnesota appeared on the St Paul Pioneer Press obituary page.
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