cuba 2.0, publicación digital del PDC-Cuba

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference. , Alex Brandon / AP Photo

Romney is not the polar opposite of the despised Obama, and in an age of presidential hatred, that’s a liability with the GOP base—and makes Mitt vulnerable to Rick Perry, says Peter Beinart.

According to the old rules of American politics, Mitt Romney should win the Republican presidential nomination. He came in second last time. He’s got lots of money. He’s got a better chance of defeating Barack Obama than his leading opponents. But he’s unlikely to win because we live in an age of presidential hatred. These days, to win your party’s nomination you must be the polar opposite of the president your party despises. Any significant resemblance between yourself and him and you’re done. 

Successful challengers have always drawn contrasts with incumbents, of course. But there was a time, not long ago, when some ideological overlap with a president from the other party was actually an asset. In 1992, Bill Clinton did not run as the polar opposite of Ronald Reagan. To the contrary, he beat more liberal contenders like Tom Harkin in part by arguing that his more moderate positions on welfare, taxes, and the death penalty would help him win over Reagan voters. In 2000, George W. Bush defined himself as a "compassionate conservative" in order to woo voters who had appreciated Clinton’s ability to "feel their pain."

With the economy stagnating and unemployment high, where are the jobs of the future going to come from? A few years ago, it seemed as though the Green Economy could be a big part of the answer.

New clean-energy sources could address environmental, economic and national security problems all at once. In his 2008 convention speech, Barack Obama promised to create five million green economy jobs. The U.S. Conference of Mayors estimated in April 2009 that green jobs could account for 10 percent of new job growth over the next 30 yearsAlas, it was not to be. The gigantic public investments in green energy may be stimulating innovation and helping the environment. But they are not evidence that the government knows how to create private-sector jobs.

Zane Tankel is embarked on a huge business expansion -- no thanks to Washington.

In this slow-growth, regulation-heavy economy, where new jobs are all but gone, Tankel’s ambition is not only welcome, but needed.

The CEO of Apple Metro anticipates hiring more than 1,000 workers at his six new Applebee’s restaurants in New York through 2013.

The new hires will increase his payroll from roughly 3,000 today to some 4,000. Tankel has three new Applebee’s planned in Manhattan, two in the Bronx and one in Brooklyn over the next 24 months.

Port Arthur, TX, September 27, 2005- President George W.Bush and Texas governor Rick Perry shake hands after a queston and answer session at the Port Arthur airport. Port Arthur was hit hard by Hurricane Rita. Photo by Ed Edahl/FEMA

Rick Perry is no George W. Bush.

This is not a compliment.

Perry's 2010 tea party-steeped manifesto, "Fed Up!," makes George Bush look like George McGovern. Perry has said he wasn't planning to run for president when he wrote the book, and it shows:

The Texas governor floats the notion of repealing the 16th Amendment, which authorized the federal income tax. Perry describes the amendment as "the great milestone on the road to serfdom" because it "was the birth of wealth redistribution in the United States."Raise your hand if you believe, as Perry suggests, that it is wrong to ask the wealthiest to pay a greater share of their income than the poor.

Recently I did a little reporting from Kenya and Tanzania before taking a safari with my family. We stayed in seven camps. Some were relatively simple, without electricity or running water. Some were relatively luxurious, with regular showers and even pools.

The simple camps were friendly, warm and familial. We got to know the other guests at big, communal dinner tables. At one camp we got to play soccer with the staff on a vast field in the Serengeti before an audience of wildebeests. At another camp, we had impromptu spear-throwing and archery competitions with the kitchen staff. Two of the Maasai guides led my youngest son and me on spontaneous mock hunts — stalking our "prey" on foot through ravines and across streams. I can tell you that this is the definition of heaven for a 12-year-old boy, and for someone with the emotional maturity of one.