Do You Heart Huckabee?

Posted on Jan 15, 2007

By E.J. Dionne, Jr.

WASHINGTON—Mike Huckabee, who just stepped down as Arkansas’ governor, is the brightest star among Republican presidential dark horses.

It’s not just because he, like a certain other Arkansan, has ties to a town called Hope, nor because he lost 105 pounds and has written a popular diet book. And it’s not only because he is mastering a conservative form of triangulation blending religious conservatism with policy pragmatism.

Huckabee, if he chooses to run for president in 2008, has another asset: While front-runners John McCain and Rudy Giuliani have placed large bets on the success of President Bush’s Iraq policy, Huckabee has maintained what you might call loyal distance.

This is what Huckabee said in an interview here last week when I asked him about the surge: “The honest answer for me is that I’m not subjected to the same piles of military and diplomatic information and intelligence that he [Bush] has, and I’m going to have to trust that the advice that he’s based his decision on as commander in chief is good. I don’t honestly know. I hope it’s right. I have to hope that, because there are going to be people from my state that are going to be asked to go and make it right.”

There was also this: “The president’s plan is one that sort of lays it all out there for him. If it works then, thank God, we may have a stable Iraq and we’ll finally be able to start a complete turnover to them. If it doesn’t, you know he’s really put a lot of things at risk, including the lives of young Americans.”

The words that stand out are for him. The president is taking this risk himself, not on behalf of the entire Republican Party. If Republicans want a conservative nominee who has never attacked Bush on Iraq but can still signal a change in direction, Huckabee could be their man.

Huckabee is the Republican to watch, especially if former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts doesn’t gain traction. Like Romney, Huckabee was a governor and can brag about expanding health coverage in his state (even if Romney’s plan was bolder).

But Huckabee is also a Southerner with unassailable Christian evangelical credentials: A Baptist minister, he attended Ouachita Baptist University and was president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention.

Huckabee makes the case that he was an effective governor who happens to be a serious evangelical, not the other way around. “I’m unapologetic with the conservative evangelicals, and pro-life,” he said. “But if people look at my record, what they’re going to see is that the focus of my time as governor was education reform ... transportation ... health initiatives. ...”

An aide helpfully interjects “large tax cuts,” and after talking about those, Huckabee goes on: “I think the Republicans have got to be engaged in the protection of the environment. We’ve not been on the front of that. We need to be. From my perspective, that’s a position that I ought to have not only as a Republican conservative, but as an evangelical. Evangelicals ought to be concerned about the stewardship of the Earth.”

If it all works, Huckabee would become The Next New Republican Thing: an affable evangelical who talks about issues that secular and middle-of-the-road voters care about. The potential downside—“by trying to please everyone, will Huckabee please no one?”—was nicely captured a couple of years ago by the Arkansas Times, a progressive paper that will be must reading if Huckabee runs. “Will moderates who like his positions on health care and education be turned off by his uncompromising social conservatism?” the paper asked. There’s the rub.

What Huckabee understands better than most Washington-based Republicans is why, with the call-ups of so many National Guard members and reservists, the Iraq war is creating such apprehension, even in the conservative heartland.

“When a person is in a Guard unit, two months ago, he was selling nails in a hardware store or he was a police officer on the beat or he was a schoolteacher. ... And he’s probably a little older, and he has kids, and he’s well established in the community. When he’s killed, the impact has dramatic effect in that community because they didn’t expect that this citizen-soldier was going to be subject to that prospect.

“That’s why I think that what we’re seeing is that there is very strong support for the soldiers,” he concludes, “but there’s a lot of angst about the war itself.” And that’s why a faithful Republican with no ties to Bush’s Iraq policy could be very popular come 2008.
   
E.J. Dionne Jr.‘s e-mail address is postchat(at symbol)aol.com.
   
Copyright 2007, Washington Post Writers Group

TAGS: 2008 arkansas environment evangelical huckabee

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By Terry Sloth, February 12, 2007 at 6:06 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

I would never vote for a Right-Wing theocrat, who is anti-female and anti-gay—-those are the only statistics that resonate with me.

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By Michael, February 12, 2007 at 1:31 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

I don’t think that anyone here has done any proper research on Huckabee.  If you are going to make claims please. . .back it up with facts.  Show us documentation.  i have looked for all of these incidents of “money grabbing” and “hot tempers” but can’t find anything.  Seriously, back up your complaints with fact if you are going to complain.

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By Scott, January 26, 2007 at 9:34 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Show me the money!
Any governor that lives in mobile home while governor isn’t half bad.  And all the stuff I have read so far that he was supose to be on the take and receiving thousands of $$$ all seems pretty petty to me.

Pardons
Bubba was selling pardons i see of no link of wrong doing, maybe just a man of conscience.

Best for president
Who cares about personalites - who is the best man for the job?  I still think Rudy is but of all the others in the field the Huckster is second banana.  Hey there is a good team.

Important Issues:
The biggest crisis next to terrorism is the national debt.  We need someone with the balls (disqualifies Hillary)to not be political and love this country.  Who is the best hope?

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By J Ware, January 25, 2007 at 11:57 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

I like Mike, he is “Bubba Without the Baggage” and more David Pryor than Mark Pryor when it comes to Arkansas politics.

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By Stanman, January 22, 2007 at 8:55 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Huckabe has never met a dime he didn’t like.  Check in to his record as governor or Arkansas, and you will find he grabbed every dollar he could.  He is just running for the money that will come with his campaign.

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By Helenjeanne, January 21, 2007 at 8:24 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

To: E.J. Dionne

I am an Arkansas native, 63 years of age.  Mr. H. is a genuine Elmer Gantry.  He will say anything you want to hear and he is good at it.  Check out some of the articles on the Arkansas Times web site if you want to know the truth about Mike Huckabee. Check out the Wayne Dumond story.  You need to do some more research before jumping on this bandwagon.

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By Polly Ester, January 17, 2007 at 5:03 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Amos,
He is a former Baptist preacher who agrees with right-wing Republicans on religion and social issues. He opposes gay marriage and abortion rights.

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By missyw, January 17, 2007 at 2:49 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Arkansans know that Huckabee has an irrational temper, can flare up when he is crossed in even a minimal way, fancies himself a stand-up commedian, and has made horrendous mistakes in judgement by pardoning criminals who promptly committed other crimes.  He has also been pretty much on the take during his time as governor, accepting thousands of dollars in gifts, including clothing, sporting goods, etc.

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By amos_hart, January 17, 2007 at 12:16 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Hessian:
I’m curious why you label Huckabee a “religious zealot.” What is that and what are Huckabee’s credentials? I await your enlightenment.

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By Arkinsaw, January 16, 2007 at 8:49 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

“I’m going to have to trust that the advice that he’s based his decision on as commander in chief is good…”

If he’s gonna trust that the advice is good, then he’s not been paying attention. When the advice he got from his generals didn’t match his plans, he got rid of his generals.

We need more than someone who “hopes” the present president is doing the right thing.

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By HeadlessHessian, January 16, 2007 at 12:45 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

I don’t trust him at all.  He is a religious zealot!  We have one of those idiots in the White house now.  I apologize to all of those other religious zealots..you have your rights and not all of you are for this mixing of religion and politics.  But when you do mix them, you get an American Taliban folks!  No more, no less.  Folks that will insist that their form or living should be yours and you should keep your mouth shut, and pray to whomever and whatever.  Founding fathers discovered that to be a recipe for what we have now…. A grade ‘A’, Efing mess on a foreign policy and domestic policy.  Amen to that!

Headless

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By rich blackmoor, January 16, 2007 at 10:34 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Huckster is a religious radical who has stated that"spreading the word of christ is my first mission”
    Trust him if you think bush is doing a good job.

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By Cynner, January 16, 2007 at 9:29 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

This stuff about a candidate’s religious credentials should stop.  It’s a danger to democracy.

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By leo epp, January 16, 2007 at 2:17 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

IS HUCKABEE A FRONTMAN FOR WALMART AND THE CHICKEN FACTORIES THAT OWN ARKANSAS? IS HE GOING TO BE FINANCED BY GLOBAL CORPORATIONS THAT WANT FREE TRADE AND SLAVE WAGES FOR WORKERS?

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By Polly Ester, January 15, 2007 at 9:54 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

“It’s not just because he, like a certain other Arkansan, has ties to a town called Hope, nor because he lost 105 pounds and has written a popular diet book.”

Let me guess, his diet book was called, “The Impudence of fat.”

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