Translated material
Salvage Captain America
A militant Republican headed to the White House
Republican Newt Gingrich (pictured) , who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999, emerged from political obscurity earlier this week. In Des Moines, Iowa, he predicted to his party comrades that current Democratic President Barack Obama would not get a second term and that he, Gingrich, did not rule out his participation in the next battle for the White House. "I've never been that serious about this," said the 67-year-old politician, whose full name is Newton LeRoy Gingrich. He promised to make the final decision no later than March next year.The position of this figure within his party is quite contradictory. In the early 1990s, he was one of the most popular representatives of the Grand Old Party - as the Republican Party is called in the United States. Gingrich co-authored the Republican manifesto "The Contract with America" and led the so-called "Republican Revolution" that ended 40 years of Democratic dominance in the House of Representatives in 1994. He later (though less successfully) led the Republican effort to impeach Democratic President Bill Clinton.
All of Gingrich’s manners, the harshness and categoricalness of his judgments, and the ability to make enemies reduced the enthusiasm of his Republican colleagues for the speaker’s person. In addition, he was followed by a trail of ethical disputes in Congress, and at some point the number of accusations of various types of sins reached 84. In January 1997, the case ended with the House of Representatives censuring its speaker and fining him $300,000. , which was the first time in its entire more than two-century history.
After the 1998 elections, which were not very successful for Republicans, Gingrich announced his resignation from the post of Speaker and from Congress in general. The factor of the American “shape of morality” also played a role here. Twice-married Gingrich in the mid-1990s, that is, when he recklessly branded Bill Clinton for his sins with Monica Lewinsky, himself began a love affair with an employee of his own office, Callista Bisek, 23 years younger than him. In 2000, after the ex-speaker's second divorce, they got married, and Gingrich exchanged Baptistism for the confession of his third wife - Catholicism.
For nearly a decade, the swashbuckling former speaker was heard little from the wider electorate. Gingrich wrote articles and books, and was engaged in policy consulting and analytical research at the American Enterprise Institute, where he is still a senior fellow. He did not remind much of himself during the 2008 presidential campaign.
Now, apparently, Newt Gingrich has decided that his finest hour has come. On the one hand, the situation seems to favor the Republicans: Democrats are losing the trust of voters, and Obama's personal rating has fallen below 50%. On the other hand, the main opposition party has obvious tension with the leader. Former governors Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Sarah Palin, the most frequently mentioned contenders for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, enjoy the support of very narrow sectors of Republicans. So far, none of them has demonstrated the ability to rise above ideological groups and lead the entire Republican electorate. Under these conditions, Gingrich considered it possible to try to come to the fore and has already gone to help Republican candidates in the midterm elections this fall.
The politician's public statements on the path of agitation and propaganda showed that his old style has not undergone any changes. Now the fury of his rhetoric is directed at Barack Obama. "I think he will take the place of Jimmy Carter, who has been called the worst president of our time," the former speaker declared. He spoke of the current owner of the White House and his team as follows: “He is the misfortune of our country. Its basic principles are wrong. The people he appoints are even more radical than himself and less competent.” The prospect of scaring off moderate voters with his categoricalness does not bother the militant Republican: “If people see that there are problems with the country, then they want to have a captain of a rescue ship, not a preaching pastor.”
It is still too early to seriously predict the balance of power in the 2012 election campaigns. But, according to independent Washington analyst Ms. Antonia Bodnar, this politician “has no chance now and will not have one later.” “It may prove useful to some of the Republican candidates in some very conservative districts,” said the Vremya Novostei political scientist. “But he himself is unable to earn the support of even the conservative electorate: two messy divorces, ethical violations, extreme radicalism - with such baggage you cannot carry the nation along with you.”