This is the fourth in a weekly series looking at possible 2012 presidential contenders. Click here to learn more about the series.
Newt Gingrich, Former Speaker of the House, has been out of government for more than a decade.
Since resigning his office during an intraparty squabble in 1999, Mr. Gingrich has endeavored to rehabilitate his image through his work as a political consultant, pundit and author. His work as a political analyst for the Fox News Channel has kept him visible, and his penchant for making controversial statements has kept him in the news.
Although his larger-than-life persona can make him easy to underestimate at times, Mr. Gingrich possesses some gifts as a communicator.
In the below clip, Mr. Gingrich articulates a clear message repeatedly (“jobs!”), and his barely contained anger at the state of the nation is well-aligned to the national mood. As a former history professor who has sometimes had a tough time using everyday language, he does an impressive job of speaking the language of voters:
“I don’t think this President will control spending. I don’t think the Democrats in the House and Senate will control spending. So they want the right to run up the biggest credit card in history, more than any teenager in America, and then they turn around and tell the rest of us we have to pay for their credit card.”
He also uses a nice speaking technique (known as anaphora) by beginning five consecutive phrases with the word “with” to press his case that the current Administration is failing on a variety of counts.
I’ll review his communications flaws and give him a grade after the clip.
It’s said that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior – and Mr. Gingrich’s track record suggests he is almost pathologically determined to stray off message and create unnecessary distractions.
Earlier this month, Mr. Gingrich earned the ire of fellow conservatives when he suggested that building a mosque in lower Manhattan would be equivalent to Nazis putting up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum. Last year, Mr. Gingrich branded Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor a “racist.” And during the government shutdown he engineered in 1995, he told reporters that he forced the showdown in part because President Clinton made him sit in the back of Air Force One during an international trip.
If Mr. Gingrich can find a way to remain stubbornly on message (and can begin to exude some optimism), he can become a viable contender. But until he demonstrates he can do so, he is not likely to win a general election, even against an unpopular president.
GRADE: C-
To see the other candidates I’ve reviewed so far, click on their names: John Thune, Mitt Romney, Haley Barbour, Jeb Bush, Tim Pawlenty, Mitch Daniels, Bobby Jindal, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Gary Johnson, Jim DeMint, Donald Trump, Mike Pence, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Barack Obama
