Huckabee’s (Not) Finished
UPDATE:
Mea Culpa. The whole premise of the below post was that former Baptist minister Mike Huckabee screwed up royally by speaking to the Southern Baptist Convention in the midst of his campaign for President. The last line of the article was that the speech was delivered not last week, but last decade. Never mind. Still, what about that picture? Why did the campaign release a picture that makes the candidate look goofy and the campaign manager look like a self-assured candidate?
Mike Huckabee’s recent appearance before the Southern Baptist Convention was the first major blunder of an otherwise stellar campaign. Sure, the bad news for Huckabee over the weekend centered around some fifteen year old comments, but his speech Sunday to the meeting of Baptist pastors was a mistake made now.
The primary problem was that there was no possible upside to Huckabee’s speech. To even attend an event where there was nothing to gain is a major mistake for a serious capaign to make. Huckabee already had all the Baptist preacher votes that he was going to get. However, the potential downside was enormous since he could say something that would confirm (or could be construed to confirm) a negative stereotype.
That’s exactly what happened when the former president of the Arkansas Baptist Convention-turned presidential candidate told the crowd that “The nation has descended gradually into crisis . . . [and] that the solution is simple: faith in Christ.” That’s a perfectly reasonable thing for a Baptist minister to tell other Baptist ministers, but it is an in-your-face official endorsement of a particular religion to Americans of other faiths–people who also get to vote for President.
On display this week were two candidates with two very different views toward faith and politics. Both candidates had to overcome unease that some voters might feel. Mitt Romney apparently did well telling a 98% non-Mormon country that he doesn’t want to be a Mormon president; instead, he’s a man who wants to be President who happens to be Mormon. Meanwhile candidate Mike Huckabee showed himself to be a Baptist preacher first and foremost. That has long been a suspicion of Huckabee held by that small number of people who actually pay attention to politics 24 and 7. Huckabee’s remarks demonstrated that there is some basis to that fear–just as real voters are starting to pay attention. Not wise.
Serious candidates just don’t go out of their way to confirm negative stereotypes. Sure, Tom Tancredo can refuse to appear before an Hispanic audience and Ron Paul can respond to questions about conspiracy theories by saying that he doesn’t discount the possibility that the conspiracy theorists are correct. However, no serious observer has ever mistaken Paul or Tancredo for a serious candidate.
Mike Huckabee has only recently earned the mantle “serious candidate”. To squander such acclaim in an appearance that was going to be notable only if he uttered a negative soundbite is beyond comprehension. Why Huckabee even agreed to speak at the event is beyond me. I can’t imagine that it was campaign manager Chip Saltsman’s idea. Chip has been around long enough to know that securing the endorsement of the Baptist Convention could be a good thing if you wanted to win a gubernatorial race in Arkansas. However, if you need a good showing in New Hampshire to show that you’re not just a regional favorite, it won’t play well since Republicans there lean more libertarian than religious.
One final note. Take a look at the picture accompanying the Nashville City Paper article. If you didn’t already know who was whom, tell me which of the two men has the look of a serious candidate?
It will be a week or so before the effects of Huckabee’s AIDS comments and his Baptist Convention remarks are reflected in the polls. Today, however, that picture is all you need to know. It is not the picture of a serious candidate for President. Huckabee is finished.
December 10th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
The article “was published on Monday, June 8, 1998″ according to a footnote at the bottom of the page.
December 11th, 2007 at 4:51 am
Big oops. Updated above. Thanks.
(Damn footnotes–gets you every time.)
December 11th, 2007 at 6:22 am
[…] Bob Krumm thinks that Mike Huckabee doesn’t know how to take advantage of a photo op: Take a look at the picture accompanying the Nashville City Paper article. If you didn’t already know who was whom, tell me which of the two men has the look of a serious candidate? Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
December 11th, 2007 at 8:06 am
Ever been bird hunting? I have, and I’d much rather hunt with someone who handles his gun the way Huckabee is handling his.
I know it’s not uncommon and not dangerous to sling one’s shotgun over one’s shoulder with the breech open, but frankly I don’t like it.
Huckabee’s gun is (1)in his hands, (2) barrel down and (3) breech open and these three criteria to me signal a much more serious hunter.
So, I frankly don’t know what the F’ you’re talking about, and I repeat my question: have you ever been bird hunting?
Ed: (1) Yes, two weeks ago. (2) They’re not hunting when the picture was taken; they were talking with reporters. (3) The over/under is open and thus obviously unable to fire. (4) What the F’ I’m talking about is the fact that the candidate is leaning on the truck and wearing a goofy grin while the campaign manager looks serious and in charge. My question to you: have you ever been campaigning?
December 11th, 2007 at 8:12 am
OK, so now I see you’ve updated this post. I also missed the date at the bottom when I saw it on Drudge yesterday….it was clearly a slow news day at Drudge….
December 11th, 2007 at 10:00 am
Huckabee may not be finished but if the GOP elects him, I’m finished with the GOP.
Mike Huckabee and his minions possess the worst trait of religion…..sanctimoniousness.
I don’t want to belong to a party that rewards that kind of bigotry. And will try to persuade as many of my Republican friends to leave the party as well.
Mitt have my vote
Fred Thompson is a distant second
I will vote for Rudy but won’t like it
Again won’t cast a vote for Huckabee or McCain.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:09 am
Sorry, I don’t see a problem either. Sure he looks pretty casual but the photo also looks entirely unstaged. I’m sure every well photographed celebrity has some less than appealing shots of themself too. One image usually doesn’t tell much. Maybe he didn’t want to look all goofy by trying too hard to be the Alpha dog. They probably wanted a hunting/gun photo for all the usual reasons but didn’t have any other choices. At least he looks authentic and comfortable in his own skin, unlike say Kerry or Gore under similar circumstances.
This is not Dukakis in the Abrams.
Huckabee is decidedly not my candidate of choice, but this photo means nothing to me.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:31 am
Doesn’t help the campaign manager is about 2 ft taller than Huck, and looks like he shaved. But yes, why is he center full face to the TV? That is a Huh? in my book.
BTW, I got it wrong, I assumed the taller guy was Huck, and he looked like a pudding-faced blob; and that the guy leaning on the truck, out of the way of the ‘big man’ and his TV moment, was cooler. It happens of course that I have no idea what Huck looks like.
BTW I would start calling him “Huck.” “Huckabee” is a loser name. No president will ever be elected with such a name.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:47 am
Bob,
OK, I read the article. My question would be, what did you expect? The man is a Southern Babtist minister. Of course this is what he believes.
Frankly, I’m amazed that more people don’t take Rudy to task for claiming to be a Catholic while being pro abortion. Catholicism is not a multiple choice religion. If you are Catholic you believe in the primacy of the Pope and what he says goes.
The Pope says abortion and birth control are a sin. If you don’t agree guess what, you get to be a Lutheran.
Personally, while I don’t support Huckabee (in a large part because of his religious conservatism), I respect him for his willingness to stick to his beliefs even though he knows he will be criticised for them.
Re the picture, does a presidential candidate have to look “in control” all the time? Can’t he just be unabashedly happy. The man was getting ready (or back from) something he really enjoyed and that shows in the picture.
December 11th, 2007 at 11:18 am
Also, about his AIDS comments.
While I disagree with the idea of segregation, I agree that AIDS research is over funded.
In the US, AIDS is almost entirely avoidable. Don’t share needles, don’t have sex with an unknown partner without a condom; there, you have statistically reduced your probability of contracting HIV to almost zero. According to Avert.org, in 2005 only 540 of 44,000 HIV diagnoses (1.22%) were from non high-risk behavior.
I don’t advocate pulling all AIDS research dollars, but I would like to see a few million dollars of AIDS research funds redeployed to Parkinson’s disease, breast cancer, muscular distrophy, leukemia, ALS, or any number of illnesses that strike without warning and are not the result of behavior.
December 11th, 2007 at 11:36 am
This is certainly not a Dukakis in the tank picture. However, this was a picture provided by the campaign. It wasn’t an impromptu moment recorded by a photographer who captured him with a silly grin. What I can’t understand is why on Earth his campaign released a photo that makes his campaign manager look like he’s the one in charge. Strange.
December 11th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
[…] is emerging of Mike Huckabee is of a guy who thinks that government should help in turning more citizens to Christ, that AIDS patients should have been quarantined long after every knowledgeable person had […]