Why not Santorum?

By Lisa Fabrizio

I've always subscribed to the notion that, by and large, the leaders most admired by the American people are those who speak plainly; that is, they represent themselves as who they are and what they believe, and not as folks would like them to be. They come to the table and lay out the bill of fare they've prepared, then serve it up as advertised.

Love him or hate him, George W. Bush had a firm set of moral convictions that he employed when dealing with issues, particularly in the arena of foreign policy. To call out of the "Axis of Evil" was the most natural thing in the world for him. There was no mistaking his aims, or from whence they derived. He saw evil in the world, and said so. Compare the attitudes of our enemies — and our allies, sadly — toward our nation now that the Oval Office is occupied by a man of confusing and even questionable beliefs.

After three years of the enigmatic Barack Obama, we desperately need someone who can and will be willing to cut through the lies and propaganda of the left and explain his views and values to the American people in a clear and cogent manner. As we peruse the so far thinnish field of GOP presidential candidates, it's worth noting that there may be just such a man in the running.

Rick Santorum, who has long been involved in a love-hate relationship with many on the right — the hatred hinging on his support of Arlen Specter in 2004 — looks like he will be tossing his hat into the ring. And like George W. Bush, whether you agree with him or not, you know where you stand with him, especially on certain topics. Chief among these is the right to life for children in the womb. Many politicians have paid lip service to this issue, but how many have the guts to confront the left on this, and to hoist them by their own petards?

A case in point was an interview Santorum gave to CNS News earlier this year where he questioned President Obama's inability to say whether a human life is protected by the Constitution, basically couching the debate in terms of civil rights; a concept that, in this context, was unfamiliar to those on the left. He said that if folks like Barack Obama decide that a child in the womb is not a person under our Constitution, that it would be "almost remarkable for a black man to say 'now we are going to decide who are people and who are not people.'"

What did he mean by this? Well, in a totally unbiased Politico piece titled, "Rick Santorum plays race card on President Obama," the senator further explained:

For decades certain human beings were wrongly treated as property and denied liberty in America because they were not considered persons under the constitution. Today other human beings, the unborn of all races, are also wrongly treated as property and denied the right to life for the same reason; because they are not considered persons under the constitution. I am disappointed that President Obama, who rightfully fights for civil rights, refuses to recognize the civil rights of the unborn in this country.

This burst of common sense was, of course met with the usual howls of indignation from leftists — "ludicrous!" shouted one of them — although it was a perfectly legitimate use of an analogy that, when employed by them to justify gay 'marriage,' becomes totally illegitimate. Unborn children, like blacks before them, are denied their rights by virtue of circumstances beyond their control, not by a choice of sexual preference. Maybe the plainspoken yet passionate Santorum can explain to the nation exactly to whom the phrase "ourselves and our posterity" actually applies.

But can Santorum get votes? Well, he served two Senate terms until he famously lost his last re-election bid in a landslide to a so-called pro-life Democrat in purple Pennsylvania, a state that went big time for Obama in '08. Some say this was because conservatives sat on their hands and stayed home, while others attribute it in part to accusations of residency violations that wouldn't have drawn a yawn in Obama's hometown of Chicago. In any case, it remains to be seen whether he can garner votes nationally, given the wild hatred of him by the media because of his views on homosexuality and Islamism.

There are still many conservatives who will not forgive Santorum for his support of the duplicitous Specter, though without it, we may have not gotten John Roberts or Samuel Alito confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court. But in him, we have a man who has everything we need to defeat Barack Obama and his polyester policies; a man who is not only able to enunciate conservatism in clear, concise terms, but is totally unafraid to live it.

© Lisa Fabrizio