With the results of the most recent primaries in the books and Gingrich (unsurprisingly) supsending his campaign, the GOP primary is essntially a fait accompli, and we can get to the 6 1/2 month slugfest that is the general election.
I admit that I had many resevations about Mitt Romney, and that I still have some. He is not the second coming of Reagan, he is not what I hope to have with Rick Perry, but he is the nominee. Romney is not as conservative as I would like (or as Ann Coulter has been screeching from her blog for the last 4 months), but neither is he as moderate as many feared, and he has already shown a willingness to go after Obama aggressively. There will be no McCain style, "my good friend," kid-glove treatment from the Romney campaign.
Newt Gingrich said earlier today that while he personally believes he would have been the better candidate, that even he must unite behind Romney and that defeating Obama MUST be the priority. I would add that almost as critical is securing a majority in the Senate. It's going to take serious work from both branches to undo the damage from the past 4 years. There's also the minor matter of possibly as many as four Supreme Court appointments coming up in the next term, and a court packed with liberal justices for the next few decades could do tremendous harm to this country.
I will not get needlessly dramatic about the importance of this election. The continued growth of the deficit and national debt may become an existential threat if it is not addressed and ultimately reversed, something the current administration has addressed in much the same manner that a 2 year old addresses having to go the doctor's office with a temper tantrum. The Republic will not fall if Obama is re-elected--but I fear that American exceptionalism will be put on life support, that our economy may be crippled to the point of an entire generation being lost to rehabilitating it, and that an unconstitutional expansion of executive powers will continue, more reminiscent of Roman tyrants than the limited powers envisioned by the Founding Fathers.
