What Mike Huckabee would bring to the table as Vice-President

Now that John McCain has seemingly wrapped up the Republican nomination, he is faced with the task of getting to the convention and picking his running mate. It’s no secret that I and a lot of Huckabee supporters would like to see him included on the ticket with McCain. In fact, there are a lot of people who will refuse to vote for McCain, unless Huckabee is his running mate.  I haven’t made my mind up exactly what I will do, except to have realized that a McCain ticket will be ultimately more attractive with Mike Huckabee as Vice-President. McCain’s choice of Vice-President may have a lot to do with his winning or losing the election. As McCain tries to come to a decision, I believe he should consider something about Mike Huckabee. Although some pundits would have us believe that Huckabee’s support came only from evangelical Christians, he has also garnered support from some moral conservative Democrats and Independents. As well as bringing the support of the conservative Christians on-board, I believe he would also give those Democrats and Independents someone to vote for when they are unhappy with either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. What I would really like to see is Huckabee to actually win the nomination at the convention, but barring that, let me explain why I believe he would make a great Vice-President and would be a good choice for John McCain.

Let’s start by examining Huckabee’s record as Governor of Arkansas. He served in that office for ten and a half years and when he ascended to the office, the state was in a very bad shape. This was from the lack of proper governorship by Bill Clinton and Jim Guy Tucker. They did everything except govern the state and solve it’s problems and Mike Huckabee had a big mess to clean up when he took office. The roads were some of the worst in the nation, the education system was in a mess, and the health-care system wasn’t much better. Huckabee was able to effectively work with the state legislature, Democratic I might add, to raise the money needed to fix the roads, repair the education system, and get a lot of Arkansas children covered by health insurance. Sure, there were some taxes raised, but some of those were voted on by the people and the others were rescinded when they were no longer needed. Despite what the Club For Growth and other organizations might tell you, Huckabee’s record speaks for itself. There were things that needed to be done when he took office and he proceeded to get them done.  I know some of this first hand because I live in Oklahoma and work in Fort Smith, Arkansas and I have seen the difference in the state before and after Mike Huckabee. He made a big difference in the state, for the good.

Looking back at Huckabee’s tenure as Governor of Arkansas, I can not fail to mention his actions during the Katrina crisis. Those actions alone should show us all we need to know about how Mike Huckabee responds in a crisis. He saw how badly the crisis was being handled, before, during, and after Katrina struck and he made a decision to help the people. He put out a statement to his staff and the state workers with one mandate. He wanted to help those people and worry about how to pay for it later. It is just part of how he thinks and what he is all about and it stems from his pro-life position. He believes all life has value and he doesn’t stop at just trying to prevent abortion. He tries his best to take care of people after they are born as well. As always with Huckabee, the people came first.

While Huckabee does not have the big money connections of Mitt Romney, he does have something that money can not buy. That is an understanding of how the economy effects the normal people of this country. As he likes to put it, the people who carry the bags and serve the food. During the Michigan debate, he was the only candidate on the stage besides Ron Paul who really understood that the economy might not be as good as what the other candidates and President Bush were saying it was. While Romney is constantly declaring how he understands the economy and how it works, I believe Huckabee understands how the economic decisions made by Congress and the President effect everyone in the country, all the way from the millionaires to those in poverty. To borrow an old saying, Huckabee has been there and done that. Money can’t buy that kind of experience and it is clear, Mitt Romney doesn’t have a clue how the normal people of America are doing.

High on my lists of Huckabee positives is his understanding and support of The Fair Tax. This is related to his understanding of the economy, in my opinion. I have heard him tell the story about the man who was working to put his daughter through college by working two jobs. Because of his being in a higher tax bracket, the gain he would have realized by working the extra job was almost negated by the taxes he had to pay. I believe Huckabee understands how over taxed and over burdened the people of this country really are.  It’s not just The Fair Tax in particular, but his understanding of how the current tax code penalizes us all.

Something else I believe Huckabee brings to the table is his ability to think outside of the normal solutions to problems and come up with something creative that will actually work. Remember how he answered the question about the economic stimulus package that was being debated in Congress at the time of the Florida debate? The other candidates were busy endorsing that plan and Huckabee shocked everyone with his answer. He said the best way to stimulate the economy was to start working on the infrastructure of our country. He realized that doing that would provide American workers with jobs and American companies with an opportunity to sell their products, such as steel and concrete. Instead of borrowing money from China to stimulate our economy, we would be using our own money to provide the stimulus and to shore up our infrastructure at the same time. It was such a creative answer, it was endorsed by other governors, both Republican and Democrat.

During the entire campaign, we have heard Mitt Romney and Barack Obama talk about how they wanted to change the way Washington works. Right now, Washington works for the people with big money. The more money you have, the more likely you will be able to make connections to the right people and hold sway over the decisions that are made in Washington. Barack Obama is certainly a Washington insider and Mitt Romney is certainly involved with the big money people. I don’t think the kind of change they are offering is the kind of change Mike Huckabee would bring to Washington, even as Vice-President.

I believe Mike Huckabee would be able to use the office of the Vice-President as more than just a position to cast a tie breaking vote in the Senate. From seeing how Huckabee has conducted his campaign and how he conducted his office as Governor of Arkansas, it is clear he is a tireless worker. I believe he would use the office to actively build relationships with members of Congress and the Senate and would use those relationships to bring forth change for the good of the people of this country. As with anything Mike Huckabee does, he would take the job of Vice-President very seriously and I believe he would use it to get things done.

That’s my take!

Larry