Everyone is curious as to what Mike Huckabee's next step is going to be. The media has been wondering and wondering, even before Governor Huckabee came in "2nd place," and exited the race on March 4. So, what is the next move for the most talented, sincere, and amazing politician, speaker, and leader this world has seen in decades (if not more)?
Well, my answer is, depending on what happens the rest of this year, I believe Mike Huckabee needs to become the national spokesperson and leading activist for the FairTax. Huckabee already has a very good grasp of what the FairTax is and what it can do to really change the United States and indirectly, this world. He has brought this potentially revolutionary tax system from an unknown, scary idea (much like Mike himself), to become something a substantial amount of this country now has a good idea of how it can change America's economy. Huckabee's numerous speeches during his campaign has spread the word and "sown the seed" of the FairTax across America.
The FairTax platform could very well be the best way for Mike Huckabee to keep his name, his ideas, his policies, his record, and his presence in the American public for years to come. I suppose Governor Huckabee can also write books on the FairTax, since he has already written 5 great books, but some people have already done a good job in writing books about the FairTax (ie. Neal Boortz).
Here's something else to take into consideration. Even if Huckabee was to become President in 2009 (which still is not a complete impossibility), he would still need to convince enough Americans to support this radical change to our taxation system (which would be near impossible given the duties of a President) if he wants to have the FairTax passed. Congress, Washington D.C., "fiscal conservatives," tax preparers, and other cynics would not allow something so radical to be passed into law without a vast amount of the American public supporting this new taxation system. If Huckabee doesn't become the Vice President or even President, this would be the best use of his time in the next few years. He'd be building a coalition and force Washington to take the FairTax seriously, while also keeping his original presidential platform alive.
To those people that think Mike Huckabee should be a TV and/or radio personality, I believe it would be awesome for his supporters, listening to and/or watching him and his messages. It would help boost his celebrity status even further and would be great for Huckabee's personal financial situation. However, it would be a disastrous career move for Huckabee's potential 2012 Presidential candidacy. If Mike Huckabee still has aspirations in being President, he cannot "lower" his status to become a member of the broadcast media.
This is just my personal idea and opinion of what Mike Huckabee's next major career move should be, depending on what happens the rest of this year. I truly believe this would be the perfect opportunity for Governor Huckabee to spend his time in the upcoming years. FairTax is a very radical departure from our current tax system. Huckabee, or anyone for that matter, would have to create a movement to specifically bring public awareness to this plan: getting rid of our current complacency in putting up with the IRS and the 60,000+ pages of tax code, by completely overhauling our tax system. Proponents of FairTax need to rally around Mike Huckabee, as does Huckabee supporters and voters, to rid ourselves of this intrusive and counter-productive income tax system and switch over to a comprehensive consumption taxation system.
11 comments:
I believe Huckabee needs to tread carefully in the next few days. It could determine his future in the Republican party. One thing for sure, being a media personality would be a step down for him. He has much higher heights to aspire to.
Larry
My Take
Huckabee's political future is bright! He has been the "stand out candidate of this election" and the GOP will be forced to see he is the future of the Republican Party if we want to succeed. He would be most helpful to run as McCains VP. The two men have a real respect and admiration for each other and you can't fake that. Huckabee "fills in the blanks" nicely for the McCain candidacy. He can pull in the youth vote, black vote, as well as evangelicals and conservatives. His humor and calm demeanor will compliment McCain's fiesty one. They will make a formidable team!!!
According to RCP delegate count, Huckabee did NOT come in Second.
Even though he stayed in the race till he had to quit, Romney STILL got more delegates.
A little embarrassing for him.
First off, I do not want this to be a debate about who has what delegates. There is a time and place to discuss that and this place is not it. This article and the comments section is meant to be a discussion about what Mike Huckabee should do, now that he decided to not run for the 2008 Presidential race.
However, to answer your comment, Mike Huckabee lasted the longest against McCain, while still winning votes, states, and support after Super Tuesday, while Mitt Romney dropped out right after Super Tuesday. That's why I believe Mike Huckabee came in "2nd place," and was the runner-up to the Republican nomination race.
Yes, Ron Paul is technically still "in it," but he hasn't won even 1 state or even come close to winning a state. Also, no two sources has the same delegate count. Not one. So I don't trust RCP more than I trust the AP, New York Times, CNN, etc. method of counting delegates. They're ALL different.
I'd appreciate it if people discuss what they think Mike Huckabee should do with his life and career. Please take your Romney and delegate talk elsewhere. Thank you.
I agree with this article with maybe one exception: maybe being in the media would be detrimental, maybe not. Whatever he chooses to do, I'm confident he'll make the right decision.
He's known all over the states, now, having come in second in delegate count (fact) and having spent incredibly less for them than Romney did. That speaks volumes re: ability to be fiscally responsible.
I became interested in the Gov. when I read about Fair Tax. I was pumped about the Fair Tax issue! Huckabee needs to educate the public re: this awesome tax overhaul.
I noticed that this blog administrator tends to remove a lot of comments. I'm guessing that anything negative about Mike Huckabee will not be tolerated. But I just think that the idea that Mike Huckabee, who's tax record is one of begging for increases as Governor of Arkansas, might be the wrong national spokesman for a revolutionary change in the tax code like the "fair tax." I'm not sure if the "fair tax" would be a better system than a Steve Forbes-style flat tax. I have a lot of reservations with how big the black market would get to help people avoid charging and paying a national sales tax. People would order things from overseas if they have to. And they would come in small unmarked boxes. Do we really want the government getting into all of our packages in order to make sure that we're not importing non-national sales taxed contraband? Anyway, it's just a thought. I think that the enforcement of a national sales tax could be even scarier and more intrusive than it is today with the IRS.
On other issues, I don't know how taking a talk show job or whatever would be a "step down" for Mike Huckabee. A lot of people already don't respect him much. So, for those people, if Huckabee got a job doing just about anything, it would make them happier than the thought of him as Commander-In-Chief. I for one, would vote for just about anybody else, if McCain decided to choose Huckabee as his running mate. I do think that it is funny that Huckabee and so many of his supporters have so much class envy when it comes to Mitt Romney and his money. Huckabee supporters are right when they say that support for Huckabee hasn't been based on Huckabee's campaign spending. That support has been based upon the fact that Huckabee has ran as the "CHRISTAIN LEADER." There is no other reason.
If the author of this blog's main reason for supporting Huckabee is because of Huckabee's support for the "Fair Tax" and not because Huckabee claims to be a "Christian, "then I give the author of this blog props! But I also, want you to recognize why - with Huckabee's record on taxes - I feel that Governor Huckabee is being a little more that disingenuous in his support of the "Fair Tax."
"Zeus:"
I originally did not require comment moderation. However, after "Lookingfornobility" posted something extremely inappropriate, I decided that comment moderation was the best option for my new blog. I did not delete a lot of comments, only my own (because you can't edit them) and that 1 inappropriate comment. Also, I have read some of your anti-Huckabee comments you've left on other pro-Huckabee sites, so you know first-hand how ugly things can get. I'm glad you left a rather calm and collected comment here (although you showed your true colors at the end of your comment)...
About Mike Huckabee's tax record in Arkansas, much of it was made up false information spread on the Internet by critics and haters. If you check his tax record, he actually decreased it a lot more than he raised it. The times he did raise taxes, was to cover the expense for building roads and infrastructure. Many of those tax raises were pushed by the Democratically-controlled legislature that fought Huckabee on many issues. Also, the citizens of Arkansas VOTED FOR the tax hikes. Huckabee had no control over a lot of the tax increases. Again, please check his tax record throughly before mistakenly bashing him for "begging for tax increases." Because that's simply not true.
About the FairTax, you seem to not know much about it. I don't know if I want to explain how it works here, in the comments section, but if you visit FairTax.org (link is in my original article) and/or buy Neal Boortz's FairTax book, you'd understand that much of your concerns about the FairTax have already been answered by experts.
About your comment: "a lot of people already don't respect him much..." All you have to do is look at all of the broadcast media asking for him to make appearances on their shows to see how much respect the LIBERAL media has for him. For the most part, they all like Mike Huckabee a lot and respect his opinions and beliefs. After he dropped out of the race, he's already made well over 10 nationally televised appearances. Just this week, he appeared on Bill O'Reilly, CNN (twice), and even Alan Colmes' radio talk show last night. I did not see any of this interest or respect given to anyone who dropped out of the race this year. Not John Edwards, not Fred Thompson, not Rudy Guiliani, not Mitt Romney.
As for you showing your true colors, being a Mitt Romney supporter and a Mike Huckabee hater...
Huckabee supporters do not have "class envy." It's something you Romney supporters made up to justify why we truly dislike Mitt Romney: his flip-flops, his consistent 2-faced lies, his willingness to bash and smear candidates that he perceives as the biggest threat, etc. Romney has done these things to McCain too, not just Huckabee. That's why McCain never got along with Romney and is only now "putting up" with him.
I do not want this to drag out into a Mitt Romney debate, because frankly, I couldn't care less about him. However, it seems like the people who post the most negative things about Mike Huckabee and on pro-Huckabee forums are Romney supporters who cannot let go of their grudge... and the occasional Ron Paul supporter, who bashes everyone, lol.
About Huckabee running as "Christian leader," no, he didn't. He ran as a former governor of 10 and a half years that stuck to his principles, and never strayed away from the true "vertical politics." The media and Internet haters/critics of Huckabee's were the ones who tried their best to frame Mike Huckabee as a "Christian leader," when he never wanted to be. Was he a "Christian leader" in Arkansas? No. He wasn't afraid to share his faith at speeches, especially when it was at churches. But Mike Huckabee did not act like he was a "Christian leader," even though he IS one. Huckabee acted like a Presidential candidate and a former governor.
Also, read this article if you believed that the 3+ million votes Mike Huckabee got was from Evangelicals, as the media would have you believe:
http://tinyurl.com/3c7jjr
By the way, I am a Huckabee supporter for many, many more reasons other than his support of the FairTax or because he used to be a Christian pastor. I support Mike Huckabee because of his genuine, upstanding CHARACTER, his record as Governor of Arkansas for over a decade, his refusal to attack his opponents, even if it meant he would lose, his extraordinary ability to communicate, his humbleness, his caring attitude, and his plans & ideas of how to change America back to its former glory. These are the reasons why I support Mike Huckabee. If you studied up on him with and open mind and not with hatred, you'd realize the same thing too.
Thank you for reading and commenting on blog. Please visit the links on the right side if you wish to learn more about Mike Huckabee. =)
Man, I made a few grammatical errors again in my comment above. I wish you can edit blog comments... ><
Way to go Gambit! I think with all the discontent with both parties it is a good time to run Independent and give Congress a good trimming.
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