Last night, I had the privilege of being at the National Press Club to watch former Republican Presidential candidate Herman Cain deliver the Tea Party Express response to the President’ s State of the Union.
Cain’s response was a stark contrast to the President’s speech. While President Obama spent much of his speech trying to convince listeners that everything was great, Cain told it to us straight. He pointed out the things we didn’t hear from Obama – the unemployment numbers, the sky-rocketing gas prices, the economy’s sluggish growth and the debt that is spiraling out of control.
In response to Obama’s rose-colored glasses “American is back” approach, Mr. Cain said – in the way only Cain can – “With all due respect Mr President, some of us are not stupid, the state of the union is NOT good.”
Cain’s response was not only a stark contrast to the Obama speech, it was a stark contrast to the milquetoast official Republican response offered by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels. Daniels speech was as vanilla as it was vague. The Daniels response highlights everything that is wrong with the Republican Party these days: the grassroots wants bold while the establishment wants bit by bit, the grassroots wants passion while the establishment wants passable, the grassroots wants straight talk while the establishment wants to hedge.
I am sure Governor Daniels is a good and decent man, and from all accounts a great Governor – but he is certainly not the savior of the GOP.
Cain’s response was everything that the Daniels response should have been: bold, passionate, honest and strong. The contrast between these two speeches reminded me of why the Tea Party continues to be so critical to the future of the GOP, the conservative movement and indeed the country.
Mr. Cain is right, “we need another revolution, not about bombs and bullets, but about brains and ballots… Washington is out touch.”
The Tea Party revolution will not occur in White House, at least not this cycle. The sad reality is that those hopes died with the end of Mr. Cain’s White House bid. All four of the GOP candidates remaining would be a vast improvement over Obama but none of them are Tea Party. Not by a long shot.
The Tea Party revolution will continue at the grassroots and should continue to change the House and the Senate and state houses across the country.
A revolution doesn’t happen over night and fundamental change will not occur over night either, but anything worth having is worth fighting for.
