Santorum can’t stop being Santorum: Why he won’t shed his obsession with the culture wars

[DonViejo]

Santorum can’t stop being Santorum: Why he won’t shed his obsession with the culture wars

This go-around, he was supposed to be focusing on economics -- not railing against the gays. That didn't last long

JIM NEWELL

Rick Santorum has talked about pivoting his focus from social to economic issues more often than the United States government has talked about pivoting its focus from the Middle East to Asia, and with about as much success. That’s because Rick Santorum cannot stop being Rick Santorum, no matter how much he tries to stop being Rick Santorum.

It makes sense that Rick Santorum would not want to be Rick Santorum. I mean, who would? Imagine having to get out of bed each morning knowing that you had to spend the whole day being Rick Santorum. And that when you woke up the next day, you would still be Rick Santorum. Nightmarish, no?

In more practical terms: Rick Santorum will not be able to further his career in American politics … much at all, under any circumstances, obviously … but especially if he can’t change his reputation as the single-issue guy who won’t shut up about how terrible the gays are. Being a social conservative who at least had some prior experience working in the federal government was enough to carry him to a distant second-place finish in the laughably horrible 2012 GOP presidential field, but this time around, he’s struggling even to get into the debates.

Things were supposed to be different this time. He wasn’t going to let himself get distracted by all the questions about whether gay people are devils who will pave the way for legalized sex with animals or children. He was going to focus on his economic message, relatively unique within the Republican field, about how the party needs to shift away from babbling on about the “job creators” and the “makers and takers” and move towards pocketbook issues for the working class. (We say economic “message” intentionally because the actually economic policy proposals he considers don’t square with the rabble-rousing populist rhetoric he shades them in. Eliminating corporate taxes for manufacturers, for example, is certainly a policy front in the class struggle, but not for the side that Santorum presents it as.)

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http://www.salon.com/2015/07/14/santorum_cant_stop_being_santorum_why_he_wont_shed_his_obsession_with_the_culture_wars/