Where is the Serious Tim Pawlenty?
I'm increasingly worried that likely GOP presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty is evolving into this year's Lamar Alexander. Lamar Alexander is one of the most effective and thoughtful members of the US Senate. Previously he served as one of the most successful and dynamic US governors. In between, however, he ran a campaign for president in 1996 that seemed built on cynicism. Alexander wore a checked shirt, added an exclamation mark after his name, and endlessly repeated his slogan attacking Congress: "Cut their pay and send them home."
The campaign got bad reviews from pundits and eggheads. Yet the joke was on those voters in the end: Alexander probably WAS the strongest available Republican candidate in 1996, and he probably would have made an excellent president. Could Pawlenty's campaign of empty cliches goad Republicans into an analogous mistake in 2012? Pawlenty was a successful two-term governor. Yet - in sharp contrast to fellow Midwesterner Mitch Daniels - Pawlenty is running a campaign of gimmicks and slogans that do not meet scrutiny. He has to be a more substantial person than his speeches, TV appearances, and campaign book would suggest. Where's that guy? The country would like to meet him.
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