Most of the GOP hopefuls fit into either of those categories, but Ohio Gov. John R. Kasich doesn’t. Trust is the key word. He said his father was a mail carrier and his grandfather worked in coal mines. He polls well at home but still is little known elsewhere. Small towns produce great men, men with empathy for the struggles of ordinary Americans. He deflected a question on who he thought should be speaker of the house.
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In the Granite State, where Camp Kasich has camped out and spent more than $5 million so far to promote himself, the irascible 63-year-old governor offered warmed-over rhetoric about how he will change Washington if elected president in 2016, assuming he survives the demolition derby that is the GOP primary process. At the same time, he took on the Pentagon bureaucracy and saved billions by helping to root out wasteful spending.
To rein in what he called unnecessary federal rules, he would enact a yearlong moratorium on new regulations “so we can catch our breath”, he said. The No Labels organization, a bipartisan group, which Kasich spoke to on Monday, wants a balanced budget by 2030, but former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney supported balancing the budget in 8-10 years when he ran for the White House in 2012.
In an op-ed defending his plan, Kasich argued that his ideas built upon the founders’ distrust of a “big, centralized” government. No candidate can match his knowledge of the budget.
Kasich last visited West Michigan in July.
As governor, John Kasich inherited a basket case. While his campaign brought in $4.2 million, on par with Kasich, he began the month with just $1.4 million on hand. “We need an all-of-the-above energy policy”. He’d been using marriage for instance of how he’d compromise, despite intently held principles. He also proposed reducing the Department of Education into four block grants, which he would then send back to the states. When Bill Clinton signed the act in 1997, the act went on to help create the first federal surplus in USA history since the 60’s.
If we want to get serious about economic growth, we need less government and more “us”.
The Ohio governor finished third in The Detroit News/Michigan Information & Research Service straw poll of the conference’s almost 2,200 party activists.
Kasich clearly is focused on the Granite State, and with good reason. We can trust him to rebuild our nation’s defenses, embracing Ronald Reagan’s philosophy of peace through strength.
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In an interview before his speech, Kasich said, “If you are a person that thinks you ought to pound the rich into submission, I guess you won’t like the plan”. No other candidate even comes close. “We’re doing fine”, Christie recently told reporters during a swing through New Hampshire.
