Cruz candidacy sure to go nowhere
Ted Cruz, to nobody’s surprise, is running for president.
He won’t win. He probably won’t get nominated either.
But he’ll manage to tick off lots of people along the way.
That seems to be the perpetually-grandstanding, first term Texas senator’s most non-endearing trait.
He’s a highly intelligent man. Sadly, intelligence doesn’t always cohabitate with wisdom.
Within days of his Senate swearing-in ceremony, the Tea Party favorite took a highly public stand against much needed disaster relief for the victims of Super storm Sandy.
He enraged his fellow Republican, Rep. Peter King, of New York, when he referred to the multi-billion dollar package as “wasteful spending.”
Later that year, however, Cruz managed to draw the ire of many more of his fellow Republicans, with his now-famous 21 hour, non-filibuster on the floor of the U.S. Senate.
He knew when he began, that no matter how strenuously he objected to Obamacare, few of his fellow Senators would take that plunge.
In the end, the Senate’s business continued, and the piece of legislation Cruz was trying to block passed easily.
So, after Cruz stepped onto the stage at Liberty University to announce his candidacy for president last week, it was his fellow Republican, Peter King, who gave him his harshest rebuke.
“To me, he’s just a guy with a big mouth, and no results,” King told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
“Would you vote for him if he’s the GOP nominee,” Blitzer asked.
“I just hope that day never comes. I’ll jump off that bridge when we come to it,” King replied.
Cruz had commanded the Liberty University auditorium with his usual flair for oratory.
“Imagine millions of young people coming together and standing together, saying ‘we will stand for liberty,'” he told the assembled student body.
Problem is, the student body had no choice. Liberty University’s thrice weekly convocations are mandatory. Those students had to attend the Cruz event, or face $10 fines. So much for them wanting to “stand” for Cruz’ idea of “liberty.”
He peppered his speech with the word “Imagine” 38 times.
The automatic connection to John Lennon’s legendary song “Imagine” was obvious.
Cruz should’ve checked the song’s lyrics before he decided to give his speech at a religious school.
“Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for, and NO RELIGION TOO,” the song says.
Hum?
Cruz hit all of the proper rightwing notes during his speech.
He’ll stand up for the Constitution, and for stuff that doesn’t require legislation.
As for policies, he let his captive (and I do mean captive) audience know he’s against lots of things.
Of course he’s anti-Obamacare. He’s also planning to do away with the IRS; he’s against anti-gay marriage; anti-abortions – under any circumstance; and against any form of gun control.
A Ted Cruz administration, so he says, would repeal Common Core.
Unfortunately, he should have not only checked out the words to John Lennon’s “Imagine,” he should’ve tried to find any law that has anything to do with Common Core.
“Instead of a federal government that seeks to dictate school curriculum through Common Core…. imagine repealing every word of Common Core,” Cruz says.
First, Common Core isn’t a federal law. The federal government has nothing to do with it.
“The Common Core is a state-led effort that is not part of No Child Left Behind or any other federal initiative,” it says on the Common Core web site.
Cruz was dead-wrong when he assumed that Common Core really dictates “school curriculums.”
“The Common Core is not a curriculum. It is a clear set of shared goals and expectations for what knowledge and skills will help our students succeed,” that web site says.
Perhaps, he should stick to simply wanting to “repeal and replace every word of Obamacare,” as he so frequently reminds us.
But even that poses a new problem for him.
Since he’s going on the campaign trail, his wife is leaving her job. That means while he campaigns, he’ll have to join a federal insurance exchange, thanks to – OBAMACARE!
Edward A. Owens is a three time Emmy Award winner and 20 year veteran of television news. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net