Newt's Ideas at Cooper Union

Years ago in the 1990s a political cartoonist drew a memorable line of filing cabinets, each drawer marked "Newt’s Ideas."  Way out on the end was a drawer marked "Newt’s Good Ideas."  At least the good ideas were on the right end of the filing cabinets.

But of course, anyone with good ideas will be found to have generated plenty of ordinary ideas.  It’s like the salespeople say: Each No is one step closer to Yes.

Former House Speker Newt Gingrich’s latest idea is one-on-one debates between presidential candidates: half hour speeches from each candidate and 30 minutes for questions.  No journalists, just a time keeper.  He tried out the format in a debate with former NY Governor Cuomo on February 27, 2007 at the Cooper Union in New York City, as reported in the New York Times by Eleanor Stables.

It’s obvious why Newt likes the idea.  It’s a good format for a candidate with a lot of serious ideas. Like Newt.  If you watch the Cooper Union event here you see Newt in complete command.  He hits his marks; he gets the ideas out that he wants; he illustrates his points with interesting anecdotes; he worries for his grandchildren; and he finishes on time.  Newt was all about the problems of today and a vision of hope for the future.

In comparison Mario Cuomo spent a lot of time talking about the perfidy of Republican tax cuts of twenty years ago, and more money for health, education, and welfare.  He ran over his time, and didn’t have any compelling prescription for the future.

The debate showed indirectly that politicians don’t just come up with political ideas out of thin air.  It takes a lot of work to assemble and shape up a set of ten point plans.  Without the spur of an election campaign, politicians just sit around rehashing the past.  Newt’s running, so he’s got ideas.  Cuomo isn’t, so he’s just dusting off old ideas and current partisan talking points.

What about Newt’s ideas?  He is right down the middle on the current conservative agenda. 

• He wants reform of health care so that people can shop for prices. He talks of the difference between a colonoscopy for $5,700 in the Northeast and $3,300 in Salt Lake City. 
• He wants reform of Social Security so that we can do something about the main difference between the rich and the poor.  The rich have investments and the magic of compound interest.  So let’s have a Social Security that puts real investments and real compound interest to work for poor people. 
• On the War on Terror Newt favors creating trouble for Iran and North Korea.  It is passing strange, he seems to think, that the one refinery in Iran that supplies gasoline hasn’t yet been sabotaged.  And it would be a good idea to fund smugglers to make things difficult for the government of North Korea instead of giving food to the government of that nation.