Now that we have caught our breath from the “off year” election on 2014. It’s time to assess what happened and how it will affect the presidential election in 2016. New Hampshire and Iowa are about to be invaded by a host of Democrat and Republican hopefuls.
Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the house and presidential candidate spoke frankly with Chris about the 2014 and 2016 elections. Gingrich believes that the election was a repudiation of the president’s policies. The former speaker believes that Pres. Obama does not have the ability to negotiate and deal with Congress like Bill Clinton was able to do. Pres. Clinton had been a governor and knew how to compromise and make deals. Obama is like Woodrow Wilson–a college professor who grades the class and is not evaluated by the class.
Newt Gingrich is also a prolific writer. He has authored or co-authored over 20 books since 1982. His most recent book is entitled “Breakout: Pioneers of the Future, Prison Guards of the Past, and the Epic Battle That Will Decide America’s Fate.”
The premise of the book is that America is poised for a breakout in a number of ways due to new technologies if we can escape from the regulatory bureaucracies–the prison guards. Gingrich points to technology like the ATM machine which gets you cash in 11 seconds anywhere in the world. However, the Pentagon is still based on mid twentieth century technology–typewriters and carbon paper. That’s why it takes a veteran 277 days to get his records from the defense department to the Veterans’ Administration. When he was asked if he was considering another run for president, Gingrich said that he was keeping his options open and acknowledged that in his opinion the Republican field was full with many excellent candidates. Newt made an assessment of Senators Cruz and Paul. The former Speaker characterized Ted Cruz as the most brash and Rand Paul as the most methodically bold. He describes these two men as idea people who can move the political discussion to important issues facing the country. Gingrich also believes that the American people who are tired of gridlock and Pres. Obama’s perceived lack of administrative talent may look toward one of the Republican governors. Kasich, Walker, Jindal, Perry, etc. can point to their getting things done in their respective states. He describes them as implementation people. Gingrich then took shots at the presumptive Democrat nominee, Hillary Clinton. In his view, she couldn’t run the State Department, didn’t know what was going on in Benghazi, was wrong on her dealings with Russia, and can’t point to any accomplishments in her own right. In contrast, the Republican party can offer candidates with bold ideas and solid accomplishments.
Chris also spoke with Newt’s wife, Callista Gingrich. She has written a series of four historical books for young readers. The books which are targeted for children from age 4-8 are narrated by a lovable character named Ellis the Elephant. Her most recent book is about the Lewis and Clark expedition called “From Sea to Shining Sea.”
Callista Gingrich is concerned that many children lack a knowledge of American history. She cited a recent study that 20% of fourth graders, 17% of eighth grade students, and only 11% of high school seniors had a grade level proficiency of American history. In her series, the goals are for the books to be patriotic and positive stories about the story of our country–not Republican or conservative propaganda. Her next book entitled “Oh, Say, Can You See?” comes out next year. It will be about the frequently overlooked War of 1812.
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