May 05, 2011 09:54 PM UTC

Mitch Daniels, The Anti-Teabagger?

• 4 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

An interesting take on the possible presidential candidacy of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels from the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank–is Daniels the first candidate to surface on the GOP side who wouldn’t scare away middle America?

Mitch Daniels, the conservative intelligentsia’s choice for president in 2012, came to Washington on Wednesday to give a speech on education policy to a conservative think tank. But not 10 minutes into his address, he took an unexpected turn.

“Most of what I’ve talked about so far, and much of what I will, is strongly supported by the Obama administration,” the Republican governor of Indiana told the standing-room-only crowd at the American Enterprise Institute. “I salute the president, Secretary [Arne] Duncan. They are right about these things.”

Off-message alert! One of the right-minded thinkers in the room rose to give Daniels a second chance to criticize Obama. The governor declined. “I really do want to salute and commend – and I’ve done it over and over – the president, Secretary Duncan, for a lot of leadership in this area,” he affirmed. “There is a federal role” in education, he argued. “I believe in national standards.”

…[T]he Indiana governor is following a well-written playbook. A dozen years ago, George W. Bush (for whom Daniels later worked as White House budget director) campaigned for the GOP presidential nomination as a different kind of Republican, a “compassionate conservative” motivated principally by concern for poor black kids and public schools.

In the end, most of that turned out to be hooey; Bush was very much a conventional conservative. Daniels, likewise, is no bleeding heart – but he is demonstrating himself to be a shrewd tactician.

But what would that mean for him in a GOP presidential primary?

We’ve said repeatedly that appeals to the moderate center, and constructive as opposed to wild Tom Tancredo rhetoric, would be a welcome sign of long-term thinking from Republicans–the polls are showing that extremist “Tea Party” faddishness isn’t going to carry them through another election cycle. The problem for Daniels, as it is for many Republicans who would greatly like to show 2012’s voters a more reasonable agenda than 2010’s voters irrationally clamored for, is the “Tea Party,” while fading from national respect, still wields a great deal of grassroots influence within the GOP grassroots–meaning in the primary process.

So, you know, don’t get too lovey-dovey with Barack Obama and all the good things you think he’s done, Gov. Daniels. Indeed, before any of the GOP contenders will get to try out-moderating Obama, they have a gauntlet to run with their own base that could really complicate things.