In just one weekend, Rick Santorum has managed to scare the bejeezus out of just about everybody. Let’s face it: As presidential prospects go, the idea of this guy sitting in the White House is just about as frightening as it gets.
Over a couple of days, Santorum has taken his conservative, holier-than-thou fanaticism to a new level of stridency. Speaking to Tea Party enthusiasts in Ohio, he said that President Barack Obama’s policies on contraception amount to “some phony theology.” It was yet another attempt to portray Obama to his fellow conservative zealots as some exotic, not quite- Christian character.
As if criticizing the president’s religion weren’t outrageous enough, Santorum next offered an attack on the nation’s public education system, lamenting the fact that the United States had over the years “built equal factories called public schools.” He added, “The idea that the federal government should be running schools, frankly much less that the state government should be running schools, is anachronistic.”
Education, said the man who homeschools his seven children, should be funded by local communities, not the states or the federal government. The fact that this equation would leave students in low-income, Black and Latino communities without recourse to obtain a proper education is clearly of no concern to Santorum, the so-called blue-collar champion of the working people (and the man who earned $1 million last year).
To add fuel to the Santorum insanity, the former Pennsylvania senator announced that prenatal care is designed to encourage abortions.
“One of the things that you don’t know about Obamacare is one of the mandates is they require free prenatal testing,” Santorum said, speaking to a Christian gathering in Ohio. “Why? Because free prenatal testing ends up in more abortions and, therefore, less care that has to be done, because we cull the ranks of the disabled in our society,” Santorum continued. “That, too, is part of Obamacare–another hidden message as to what President Obama thinks of those who are less able than the elites who want to govern our country.”
While Mitt Romney comes off as hopelessly insecure in his beliefs on various bedrock issues, Santorum is, by contrast, convinced of his absolute infallibility on everything he pronounces. He comes off staunchly and smugly certain of his perfect rectitude on every issue. He is not just condescending to anyone with opposing views, he is downright mean-spirited.
For example, rather than highlighting his differences with Obama on the substance of various issues, Santorum has sought to compare the president of the United States with Adolf Hitler.
Fascinatingly, Santorum’s brand of vociferous focus on issues such as contraception and his judgmental view of the president’s religious values are as scary to the Republican hierarchy as they are repugnant to more progressive minds. They realize that attacking women’s health concerns and promoting far-right conservative zealotry is no winning formula for regaining the White House.
But beyond the campaign, there is governance. The president has to govern a nation of many races, cultures, traditions and religious beliefs. Furthermore, the president must deal with nations and leaders whose religious beliefs and traditions are different from his–or her–own. Do we really want someone in the White House who would, quite literally, demonize those with whom he disagrees?
The fact of the matter is that Santorum–the man who was rejected in his own reelection bid for the Senate in Pennsylvania–is a man who should come nowhere near the Oval Office. He is as intolerant a politician as the Republicans have produced–and that’s saying a lot, given the array of atrociously intolerant 2012 GOP field of presidential candidates.