I was a great fan of Superman comic books when I was a kid. Among my favorites were those in which the Man of Steel traveled to Bizarro World — a dimension in which everything was the opposite of our normal world. Watching the last few Republican presidential debates, I now have a pretty good idea of how Superman must have felt as he tried to function in a world in which left is right, black is white and up is down. I refer, of course, to the manner in which former Speaker Newt Gingrich is being attacked by fellow Republicans Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney. He’s being attacked for, well, accomplishing conservative goals.
In the real world, a Republican presidential candidate who not only served as the architect for the first Republican-controlled House in four decades but during four years as speaker engineered legislation ultimately signed by a Democratic president that balanced the federal budget, reformed welfare and significantly reduced taxes would receive at least mild praise for such accomplishments. Yet listening to attacks by Romney and Santorum against Gingrich, someone not familiar with what actually happened in Washington during those years could be forgiven for thinking Newt was the most horrible and un-Republican political leader in our nation’s history.
Attacks by one’s adversaries in primary contests are, of course, nothing new, and all the GOP candidates — those still standing as well as those who have exited the race — have taken shots at each other. However, the attacks against Gingrich targeting his terms as speaker are completely unreasonable.
Newt is the only GOP candidate who can point to a record of changing national policies for the better. He balanced budgets, reformed welfare, cut taxes and more. Those accomplishments came with a heavy price for Gingrich; he was on the receiving end of relentless and withering attacks from Democrats (and jealous members of his own party) throughout his terms as speaker. To be sure, Newt made tactical and strategic mistakes aplenty. I know — I was a member of the Republican caucus during those years. But to now witness a former Republican senator (Santorum) and a former Republican governor (Romney), both of whom benefitted greatly from Gingrich’s work, distort history and twist his record is truly disheartening.
One wonders if the attacks against Newt’s record by Romney and Santorum reflect these candidates’ disagreements with what Newt accomplished as speaker, or whether they are simply blinded by their personal ambition for high office. Either way, their actions are a disgrace to the party they purport to represent and to their own candidacies.
Superman was always able to escape Bizarro World and return to the real world, in which his positive accomplishments were recognized and appreciated. Hopefully in our universe Newt’s intellect, unflagging energy and broad vision — all of which exceed those of his opponents — will enable him to focus the attention of the electorate on something that escapes Santorum’s and Romney’s pinched visions: that someone who has balanced the federal budget, actually reformed the federal government and significantly reduced taxes is someone to be admired and supported rather than torn down.
Bob Barr represented Georgia’s Seventh District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003. He provides regular commentary to Daily Caller readers.