Daniels at CPAC calls for broad, civil, conservative coalition9:53 PM, Feb 11, 2011 | by Tom Beaumont |
Washington, D.C. ? Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels Friday summoned frustrated Americans to join
together in a broad coalition to set the nation on a healthier fiscal and economic course.
But Daniels, a Republican quietly weighing a presidential candidacy, did so in a cerebral call-to-arms
by also
asking a select audience of conservatives to welcome non-ideologues into the tent.
?We must be the vanguard of recovery, but we cannot do it alone,? Daniels told about 500 attending
a banquet at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C.
?We have learned in Indiana, big change requires big majorities,? the second-term governor and former
Bush administration budget director said. ?
We will need people who never tune in to Rush or Glenn or
Laura or Sean. Who surf past C-SPAN to get to SportsCenter. Who, if they?d ever heard of CPAC,
would assume it was a cruise ship accessory.?
The references were to conservative commentators Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham and
Sean Hannity. CPAC is the acronym for the three-day conference sponsored by the American Conservative
Union, where several of the prospective 2012 GOP presidential candidates have appeared.
Daniels touted accomplishments in Indiana such as an increase in school choice, tax cuts and health savings
accounts. And he proposed for the nation changes in Social Security and Medicare that would give younger
Americans different options when they need the entitlement programs, which are aimed at seniors.
?Medicare 2.0 should restore to the next generation the dignity of making their own decisions, by delivering
its dollars directly to the individual, based on financial and medical need, entrusting and empowering citizens
to choose their own insurance and, inevitably, pay for more of their routine care like the discerning,
autonomous consumers we know them to be,? he said, prompting a
standing ovation.
The speech was a breakthrough moment for Daniels, who has hinted more in recent months that he
is entertaining a 2012 campaign.
A corps of national political media covered what was the first speech of its scope for Daniels.
But Daniels did not address the full conference as his likely would-be 2012 rivals former Minnesota Gov.
Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney did Friday. Roughly 11,000 are registered for the
conference, which ends Saturday. Many of them are college students.
Daniels has offered an unapologetic prescription for the GOP, which has caused him some grief with his
own party. He has called for a moratorium on pursuit of social-issue legislation, a top concern for the
Republican?s evangelical wing.
That bloc plays an outsized role in Iowa?s leadoff nominating caucuses. Unlike Pawlenty and others,
Daniels has not begun laying the groundwork for a potential Iowa caucus campaign.
He did not visit the state to campaign for Iowa Republicans, and contributed no money from his political
action committee to Iowa candidates, another common practice for future caucus candidates.
An aide said he would not make any public political moves until the end of April, after he hopes his
proposal to
create a statewide school-choice program is passed.
And Daniels did not touch any of the hot-button social issues such as abortion, as former Pennsylvania
Sen. Rick Santorum emphasized in his speech to the conference Thursday.
The closest he came was:
?We must display a heart for every American, and a special passion for those still on the
first rung of life?s ladder.?
Instead he called for a united conservative front, quoting, as many have at the conference,
former President Ronald Reagan, for whom he worked as chief political adviser in 1985 .
?When one of us ? I confess sometimes it was yours truly ? got a little hotheaded, President Reagan
would admonish us, ?Remember, we have no enemies, only opponents,? ? Daniels said. ?Good advice,
then and now.?
?With apologies for the banality, I would submit that as we ask Americans to join us on such a boldly
different course, it would help if they liked us just a bit.?
http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2011/02/11/daniels-at-cpac-calls-for-broad-civil-conservative-coalition/
