3 GOP Leaders to Watch

By Ed Hoffman

I had the pleasure of being a primary sponsor for the Unite IE Conservative Conference on Saturday at the Fox Theater in Riverside. It was a pleasure to meet many of you there, and I was glad to hear that so many of you are interested in doing your next home loan or refinance with my company, Wholesale Capital Corporation. Starting out the day as the first speaker and leading the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance was a real honor, considering that three of the of the GOP’s most interesting, engaging leaders would deliver their messages from the same stage later in the day. All three are said to be considering a run for President in 2016, and I would be pleased to see any of them move forward with it.

The first was Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and the candidate who vied for Barbara Boxer’s Senate seat in 2010. Fiorina made a great point that echoes the oft-repeated principle, “As California goes, so goes the nation.” I’ve often wondered whether the federal government is watching California and modeling federal legislation after what goes on in our state; Fiorina confirmed that for me. “California is the test case,” she said. “It is proof positive of what happens when liberals are in charge for too long.” And of course, I enjoyed what she had to say about Hillary Clinton. Unlike Clinton, Fiorina said, “I know that flying is an activity, not an accomplishment.” Carly Fiorina is a Republican woman who has accomplished great things in her career, and unlike Ms. Clinton, she lets those accomplishments speak for themselves. It was an honor to meet her as well.

Next, former Texas Governor Rick Perry delivered his message of economic liberty; this platform is just one of the many reasons he remains my number one choice for the Republican nomination in 2016. Highlights from Governor Perry’s speech include his observation that higher corporate taxes hurt middle income workers more than anyone, followed by the assertion that middle class workers are who the Republican party needs to focus on. “We need to make credit more available, not less so to those small businesses,” Perry began. “Instead of expanding the welfare state, we oughta be building the freedom state in this country.”

In Texas, Perry said, “Our formula was pretty simple: you control taxes and spending, you provide smart and predictable regulations, you develop an educated workforce, and you stop lawsuit abuse at the courthouse.” Perry is proud of his accomplishments in his 14 years as governor, and he should be. “We helped build the best economy in this country,” he said. “We have created nearly one third of the private sector new jobs during that entire period of time.”

During the seven years that the rest of the country was in an economic recession, Governor Perry created 1.4 million jobs in the state of Texas. “The media pundits have called what happened in my home state the Texas miracle,” he said. “I don’t call it that. Miracles cannot be explained or replicated; economic recovery can.” When Perry stated, “I’ve been movin’ across the country a lot now lately,” I happily concluded this to be an indication he is considering another run for the presidency. I sincerely hope he is.

Finally, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal rounded out the day with a speech that brought the crowd to its feet. As I’ve admitted on my radio show, I didn’t know much about Jindal before; I feel like I know him better, and like him even more, after hearing him speak in person. During the Q&A portion of his appearance, Jindal was asked his opinion on the State Department’s strange messaging regarding ISIS: That young jihadis are taking up the ISIS cause because of “lack of opportunity,” i.e. jobs. Jindal’s thoughts confirm that everything I’ve been saying on my radio show about this is true: These are not just the “nuanced” comments of deputy spokesperson Marie Harf. This is a philosophy that permeates the entire Obama administration. “This is coming from the top,” Jindal said. “You’ve got a President who will not say that we face the threat of radical Islamic terrorism, and yet he is more than happy to warn us about the evils of Christianity.” Anyone who listens to my show knows I have pointed this out week after week, so it was a breath of fresh air to hear someone with the stature of Governor Jindal affirm my thoughts.

I still like Scott Walker, Ben Carson and several other possible candidates conservatives are excited about. But these three are definitely GOP leaders to watch over the next year. They deserve to be given a chance.

Ed Hoffman is the host of the Main Event on AM590, which airs Saturday 9:30AM- 10:30AM and Sunday 4:00PM- 5:00PM. Follow him on Twitter @EdHoffman, and like him on Facebook by searching The Main Event AM590.