Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Size them up—not just as athletes in a horse race, but as what they aim to be: President.



Erick Erickson, the RedState.com editor who The Atlantic called "the most powerful conservative in America," has a brilliant idea. For his annual RedState Gathering in Atlanta, he issued strict instructions to GOP presidential candidates addressing the group.
I have asked each of the 2016 candidates to focus on one thing: If they become president, their reelection would be in 2020. I'd like them to present their 2020 vision for what the nation should look like after their first four years. We do not need Obama-bashing. We need to know what they would do differently and how they would shape the nation. They should be elected not on their ability to bash the opposition, but their ability to sell a vision for the future that resonates with the base and the nation as a whole.
It's a great concept—and organizers of the general election debates should steal it.