21st Century Reagan legacy heir?
Served in the Armed Forces? Check. First female member of the U.S. Congress from Iowa? Check. State Senator to U.S. Senator? Check. Easily defeats Democrat in Senate race in a swing state? Check. Young? Check. Photogenic? Check. Charismatic? Check. Compelling life history? Check. Castrates hogs? Check.
There is no republican politician in America who scares me more than Joni Ernst...
As much as I was hoping that President Obama would give an uplifting State of the Union address, I have to admit I was hoping even more that Joni Ernst would fall flat on her face (see also, Jindal, Bobby, Bachmann, Michelle, and Rubio, Marco) in her republican response to the President's speech.
No such luck--while Ernst pales in comparison to Barack Obama as an inspiring orator, she gave a very competent speech devoid of any unforgettable errors. Yes, it was all malarkey--repeal Obamacare still? Freaking really? Keystone as a jobs bill? Freaking really II? The Congress "you elected?" Not me!--but she delivered it calmly (if a bit stiffly), cheerily, and in a downhome style. And though it was sheer cornball, the bit about walking to school in the rain with bread bags around her shoes to save them from getting ruined is just the kind of story that plays well with America's limited attention span voters.
Look, Ernst ran against an able U.S. Congressman, Bruce Braley (who, in fairness, ran a piss poor campaign and has all the charisma of a dead tree), and won despite voters in Iowa saying they actually agreed more with Braley on the issues than Ernst. During the campaign, her views on Nullification, opposition to the Federal Minimum Wage, belief that there really were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, opposition to same sex marriage, support for a Personhood Amendment, desire to eliminate the the IRS, EPA, and Department of Education, and her belief in the United Nations' Agenda 21 all came to the fore and she still beat Braley handily.
And she did this not in Alabama or Mississippi or Oklahoma or Kansas, but in a state that elected Liberal stalwart Tom Harkin five times to the U.S. Senate seat she now holds.
Ronald Reagan was called the "Teflon President" because nothing seemed to stick to him. His policies (such as firing the air traffic controllers and reducing taxes on the wealthy) and actions (popularizing the idea of welfare queens, Iran-Contra) didn't do anything to help ordinary Americans but he won two landslide elections for the Presidency. He merely presented a compelling narrative, was surrounded by toadies who protected his image, and people liked him.
I don't know that Ernst has any aspirations beyond the U.S. Senate, but what scares me most about her is how much the persona she projects reminds me of Reagan--likeable, folksy, midwestern, and that fake naive Gee, Isn't America Just the Greatest? cheeriness that plays well with your average American. Reagan was a nutjob and America elected him twice. No reason a nutjob like Ernst couldn't do the same.
And in 2024, she'd have ten years in the U.S. Senate, a seat that isn't up until 2026, and an America that might just be tired of 16 years of a Democrat in the White House.
And at least four years to do just as much damage to ordinary Americans as did Reagan.