GOP Hopefuls No Challenge to Obama

Current Republican field riddled with weak spots
By Marie Morris,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 18, 2010 2:20 PM CDT
GOP Hopefuls No Challenge to Obama
A supporter raises a Palin 2012 sticker in the air prior to Sarah Palin speaking on Boston Common in Boston, Wednesday, April 14, 2010.   (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Republicans talk a good game about challenging President Obama in 2012, but the GOP would look scarier if it had even one legitimate challenger , says Dick Polman. "Obama's job-approval numbers are tepid these days—but he looks robust when matched against actual Republican challengers," warns the Philadelphia Inquirer columnist. "Not to mention the inevitable wounds and scars that any Republican will suffer during a primary season that promises to be downright Darwinian."

  • Nominal frontrunner Mike Huckabee "compares gay civil unions to drug use, incest, and polygamy" and is perceived as soft on crime.
  • Sarah Palin's "own fans don't even think she's electable"; she may prefer to stick to her TV endeavors "rather than expose herself to the daily indignities of demonstrating how little she knows."
  • Having "signed a statewide health-care reform law," Mitt Romney "can't remake himself as a pitchfork populist standing tall with GOP conservatives against the alleged tyranny of ObamaCare."
To see Polman's take on Newt Gingrich and the "more soporific than Ambien" Tim Pawlenty, click here. (More Election 2012 stories.)

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