OPINION:
The election of 2012 is a mess with meaning. In that way, it’s like every other election. So, America, stop complaining.
Republicans - at least those who talk on TV - are upset that the field of potential presidential nominees is less than perfect. They hunger for someone else - almost anyone else - to enter the race and answer all their concerns.
Well, just stop it. There is no perfect candidate and there never will be. The best one can hope for is someone who is better than whom the Democrats have to offer and, given the state of things - especially with the economy - that’s almost anyone with a pulse.
Indeed, all the GOP has to do is find a passable person to win its nomination. Unless President Obama is lucky enough to have joblessness all but disappear in the next year, Republicans have a real shot at winning the White House - almost no matter whom they put up.
That’s pretty much what happened for the Democrats the last time around. The only real - and meaningful - fight in 2008 was over who would claim the Democratic nomination. The victor could have as easily been Hillary Rodham Clinton as Barack Obama. It didn’t matter. Either one would have won the general election because George W. Bush had so thoroughly tarnished the Republican brand.
This time, the Republicans have the same opportunity, which is surprising. Normally, voters are willing to give a political party two consecutive terms before they elect the standard bearer of the other party to the presidency. And, to be fair, that could happen again this time.
But that’s a low-percentage bet. Judging by Mr. Obama’s job approval ratings - and a close look at the state-by-state electoral map - the GOP is about to be handed the White House in 2012. All its primary voters need to do is pick the least objectionable of the alternatives on the presidential-primary ballot.
Toss in adequate funding and the lack of a major scandal and voila, the Republican nominee will be president in January 2013.
That analysis is, of course, a bit too glib, especially since a serious policy battle is brewing this year. The parties are offering very different - almost opposite - visions of how the federal government should operate and the voters will have a clear choice.
Democrats, led by the president, want to raise taxes, especially on upper-income people and corporations. Republicans devoutly oppose tax increases, asserting that the bloated government does not deserve a raise, and they want to cut federal spending as deeply as they can get away with.
The diehards in each camp cannot imagine what the other side is thinking. But the voters in the middle, as always, will decide. At the moment, at least, it’s hard to see how the tax increasers can prevail.
Even some Democrats are fed up with government largess that has resulted in so little progress in recent years. Billions, no trillions, have been poured into improving the economy, and still it languishes. Why drop more down that hole?
The energy in politics these days is coming almost entirely from the right. Tea Party supporters are motivated voters who will show up at the polls and donate money. The left seems unhappy and frustrated with its hand-picked president. Mr. Obama talked down to the Congressional Black Caucus in a way that angered what should be his most reliable base.
The woe-is-me crowd in the Republican Party is missing the bigger picture. Sure, Mitt Romney has his faults and Rick Perry, for now, can’t seem to argue his way out of a corner. The polls bring us a new flavor of the week. The latest one is Herman Cain.
But that’s the way it’s supposed to be. The primaries and caucuses - and all the preprimary jockeying and debates - are designed to winnow down the wannabes. Along the way, it is an ugly mess.
But as long as one of the candidates wins and that candidate is credible as president, the Republicans have a real chance to win it all in 2012. They should stop wringing their hands in despair and enjoy the ride of democracy.
Jeffrey H. Birnbaum is a Washington Times columnist, a Fox News contributor and president of BGR Public Relations.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.