Can we stand another governor from a small southern state?

Like Senator Clinton, Governor Huckabee, has roots in a small southern state. (Arkansas) His campaign has (momentarily) caught fire, at least in Iowa. But I look at his unscripted moments - especially as they relate to the assassination of Bhutto - and wonder whether we can afford to have a GOP clone of Jimmy Carter. Some of his ideas are interesting - others seem crafted by a religious spinmeister. For example, his veterans "bill of rights" is fundamental lunacy - He states on his website that benefits should be include "The right to a mandatory rather than a discretionary mechanism for funding veterans' health care" While I believe it is important to assure good care for our veterans I am not sure it should become an entitlement over all other parts of federal spending. His tax policies (" I am running to completely eliminate all federal income and payroll taxes.") would replace the current broken system with a national sales tax. Ultimately the nation should move more toward consumption based taxes but a pure sales tax is probably not the way to accomplish that. "Fair" taxes are always in the eyes of the beholder.

His health care ideas ("The health care system in this country is irrevocably broken, in part because it is only a "health care" system, not a "health" system. We don't need universal health care mandated by federal edict or funded through ever-higher taxes. We do need to get serious about preventive health care instead of chasing more and more dollars to treat chronic disease, which currently gobbles up 80% of our health care costs, and yet is often avoidable.") are simple pandering. How would he implement a system without a system?

He says he believes in the global economy but then argues for an agricultural policy thusly "A nation must provide its citizens freedom and security. To accomplish this, a nation must be able to defend itself and feed itself. We have learned how disastrous it is to be dependent on other countries for our energy needs – we must never be dependent for our food needs." Those two ideas are in fundamental conflict.

What bothers me most about his campaign is the notion of "vertical politics." - which is described as follows "I meet voters with a real thirst for a healthy discussion of the issues. Ultimately, people don't care whether an issue comes from the left or the right. What they want to talk about are ideas that lift America up and make us better. It's what I call "Vertical Politics" and it is why we felt it was so important to set a "Vertical Day" aside to focus on the issues." The last politician who talked like that was Jerry Brown with his canoe analogy (you paddle a bit to the left and then to the right). I believe the American people are tired of strict left of right politics. At the same time, I believe many of his ideas would lead to an even larger role for the federal government. I still believe in the maxim that one of the greatest lies of all time is "I'm from the federal government and I'm here to help."

The religious tie is also a troubling one. It is important to me that a politician is grounded in faith - almost any faith. At the same time, however, I think religious expression is very personal. Politicians often err when they attempt to move that set of personal beliefs into the political realm. Government policies should have some moral basis but care is very important - the balance in the first sixteen words of the First Amendment is critical to our national standing.

I can't say I would never vote for Huckabee - but he would be well down on my list.