Rick Santorum Meets P.T. Barnum

Member Group : Scott Paterno

As a politician, Rick Santorum presents an enigma. While most politicians
seek power by ingratiating themselves to voters, Santorum often does the
opposite. While most seek favor by being favorable, Santorum often does
neither. While most try to produce the widest consensus, attract the
broadest constituency, and incur the least wrath, Santorum often takes a
different path.

He says what he wants, when he wants, to whomever he wants. He seems not to
care about popularity, approval, or applause. Once one of the most powerful
politicians in America, Santorum has become America¹s anti-politician‹doing
and saying exactly what it is supposed ³real² politicians don¹t do.
Paradoxically, in doing the not done, he has propelled himself into a viable
candidacy for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

Since his entry into the race, Santorum has attracted enormous national
press attention. His fundraising efforts appear to be gaining momentum, and
he has won important early straw votes, including a critical South Carolina
test. Moreover, early withdrawals from the field, including Mike Huckabee,
may now benefit Santorum among key Christian conservative supporters.
Finally, Santorum¹s performance in the critical South Carolina debate was
highly praised. He seemed seasoned, comfortable as a candidate, and ready
for prime time.

Is this early success despite Santorum¹s prevailing image as the enfant
terrible of American politics or because of it? Surely his political
provocations have become legendary. Santorum regularly insults key
constituency groups, alienates large swatches of voters (both Democrats and
Republicans), and almost viscerally seeks controversy.

Here¹s a small sample of ³Rickisms²:

* Most famously, Santorum has equated homosexuality to adultery, bigamy,
incest, child molestation, and zoophilia, notably coining the phrase, ³man
on dog² sex.
* In interviews, Santorum has stated ³the right to privacy does not exist in
the U.S. Constitution,² inferred by some to mean there are few if any limits
on government to regulate private sexual behavior.
* Santorum has attributed the problems with Social Security to abortion:
³The reason Social Security is in big trouble is we don’t have enough
workers to support the retirees. A third of all the young people in America
are not in America today because of abortion, because one in three
pregnancies end [sic] in abortion.²
* Santorum has blamed the Catholic Church¹s sex scandal on ³moral
relativism,² a sick Boston lifestyle, and ³cultural liberalism.²
* Santorum has compared abortion to slavery, adding that comparing the two
was nothing new and he wouldn¹t apologize.
* Most recently, Santorum stated that Senator John McCain, who underwent
horrendous torture in Vietnam, couldn¹t understand why torture was necessary
in the fight against al-Qaeda: ³McCain doesn¹t understand how enhanced
interrogation works. I mean, you break somebody, and after they’re broken,
they become cooperative.²

So the former senator and wannabe president has broken just about all the
rules. Yet although not quite thriving‹his polls are still wobbly‹he is
doing just fine. In the inchoate mess that is the present GOP field, he is
holding his own and then some.

So what gives? By every political convention, Santorum should be stone cold
dead right now, yesterday¹s news, a failed politician, and obnoxious to
boot.

But he¹s not. He¹s not because he understands what others fail to grasp‹that
the GOP presidential nomination fight has become not just great political
theater, but a genuine three-ring circus. And who better to look to for
advice about running a circus than the great circus master himself, P. T.
Barnum! Better known for his work with carnivals, sideshows, and assorted
hoaxes, Barnum was also a politician. He served in the Connecticut
legislature for two terms, was mayor of Bridgeport, and ran for Congress.

Barnum, in short, is the perfect role model for anyone running for the 2012
Republican presidential nomination. Santorum, of the odd dozen GOP
aspirants, is the first to figure this out. That explains the otherwise
inexplicable‹why Santorum talks and acts as he does.

The conclusion is inescapable. Santorum has discovered Barnum¹s secret‹that
the public loves a show and that one can say almost anything and someone
will believe it. Santorum has also adopted and perhaps perfected Barnum¹s
abiding personal philosophy: ³I don¹t care what you say about me, just spell
my name right.²

And that is what the ex-senator is doing superbly. He is putting on a good
show‹perhaps as Barnum might style it, ³the greatest show on earth.² And he
is saying just about anything, making sure his name gets spelled right in
the reporting.

Santorum¹s brilliant strategy is to grab the most attention he can, caring
little for any negative fallout, hoping the other ³acts in the show² get
ignored while he basks in the limelight of outrageous notoriety.

Will it actually work? Can Santorum use P. T. Barnum¹s tactics to steal away
the Republican nomination, winning the chance to take on Barack Obama for
the presidency? Given the utter pandemonium now prevailing among Republican
aspirants, the palpable weakness of the field itself, and politics penchant
for the unpredictable, who can say?

One thing seems certain, however. P. T. Barnum would be enjoying the show if
he were here to see it and may be a tad envious he wasn¹t running it
himself.

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Politically Uncorrected is published twice monthly, and previous columns
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with which they are affiliated. This article may be used in whole or part
only with appropriate attribution. Copyright © 2011 Terry Madonna and
Michael Young.