Because I’m a political junkie who is easily obsessed with such silly things, I sometimes wonder about 2008.
Yes, I know, the 2004 election is next year and it will be incredibly important. At this point, no one knows if Bush can beat the Democratic nominee, nor for that matter who in the world the Dem nominee will be.
That being said, it’s never too early to start thinking ahead. After all, failing to plan is planning to fail.
Whether Bush wins a second term or not next year, Dick Cheney has already said he has no presidential ambitions. This means, the morning after next year’s election, regardless of the outcome, GOP hopefuls will begin setting their 2008 campaigns in motion.
Some of the names of likely candidates will sound familiar to national audiences — Bill Frist, Lamar Alexander, George Pataki, to name a few. But one name that comes up a lot in GOP circles is Colorado Gov. Bill Owens (R).
Conservative columnist George Will reminded me yesterday just how much some conservatives want Owens to run for president in five years. Will managed, however, to write almost 750 positive words about Owens’ qualifications without mentioning the one thing that could prevent him from succeeding on a national scale.
“Today it is just 51 months until the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary — the 2008 caucuses and primary — and some Republicans are looking to the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains for a possible candidate to become the 44th president,” Will wrote. He added that Owens’ record will “lure many Republicans to his door, knowing that the National Review calls Owens the nation’s best governor.”
Will does his best to write the predictable puff piece about Owens, touting the governor’s conservative record on economic, educational, labor, and tax issues.
“On a sparkling morning recently in the Mile High City, Owens stepped out onto the statehouse steps, where workers were moving a marker, the one that designates a particular step as precisely 5,280 feet above sea level,” Will wrote. “New data show that the marker belongs a few steps lower. That means Denver is even a bit more elevated than has been thought. Time will tell if that is a metaphor for Owens’s political career.”
Obviously, this was one of those shamelessly fawning columns that leads the reader to wonder if the subject had to pay the writer for the advertising.
But that’s not the point of this post. Instead, I feel the need to point out an unpleasant reality that George Will chose to ignore that may affect Owens’ prospects.
Will mentioned in passing that Owens has three children but failed to note Owens’ marital status. There’s a good reason for that. In early-September, Owens announced that he was separating from his wife after 28 years of marriage.
I have no idea why the Owens’ split or whether adultery had anything to do with it, so it’s impossible to speculate. I do believe, however, that in Republican presidential politics, this is the kind of issue that matters. If Will is going to profile Owens and tout him as a potential presidential candidate, this is the kind of detail that deserves to be mentioned.
It’s not just that Republicans peddle the mistaken notion of being the family values party. Owens himself is a devout Roman Catholic who has touted family values as the cornerstone of his gubernatorial administration and the basis of his two statewide campaigns.
Two days after announcing his family difficulties, Owens felt compelled to cancel to upcoming appearances before conservative Christian organizations — Colorado’s Focus on the Family national conference and a meeting of the Pennsylvania Family Institute — both of which were scheduled for October.
Let me be clear: I’m not condemning Owens for his family difficulties and I’m not saying marriage problems should disqualify someone from national office. I am saying that Owens may face charges of hypocrisy from critics for claiming to be a champion of family values and then separating from his wife.
Moreover, Owens’ presidential ambitions and marital status may be incompatible with expectations of the conservative rank-and-file Republicans who help select the GOP’s nominee. After years of condemning Bill Clinton’s personal failings, it may be difficult for Republicans to throw their support behind a candidate like Owens.
As the University of Virginia’s Larry Sabato told the AP last month, “He is a conservative who has been very popular with the Christian community because of his family values platform, and they are not going to be warm to this at all.”