Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, was one of the choices in this year’s presidential nominee list and he was in a favorable position. However Sarah Palin was chosen but this did not stop the political enthusiasts from expecting him to run in the 2012 elections again. He was born in Arkansas and grew up to become the governor of this birth town. He also hosted a talk show on the Fox News channel.

Huckabee has held strong views on various issues. Unlike Palin he supported abortion and opposed gun control. However, like most conservative republican candidates he opposes gay marriages or civil unions and believes that there are acts and practices of sin. He believes that this will have a negative influence on the society and its lifestyle. He also believes that creationism is important and children should be educated about it alongside the theories of evolution. Huckabee is also in favor of the Iraq war and he defended Bush’s invasion on Iraq even though they did not find any weapon’s of mass destruction under Saddam Hussain. This however, was incited by Saddam’s statements saying that he did have WMDs. This apart, Huckabee also was in favor of the death penalty. He criticized the tax system in operation and believed that Fair Tax should be imposed in all of America. He once refused to speak at a council of conservatives as he thought it had racist touches to it.

A lot of his conservative beliefs mixed with some modern thoughts make him a moderate person and therefore the favorite of many republicans fully trusting Huckabee’s chances in winning the 2012 elections and becoming the president. However some of his statements did win him an inauspicious reputation. His open remark against Mitt Romney and his religious perspective put him under some bad light. Also his comparison of homosexuality to pedophilia and bestiality did not quite brighten his chances of winning the people’s confidence. International relations were also under stake when Huckabee made comments about Benazir Bhutto and her death. He said that Pakistan had illegal immigrants to the US which was a false allegation as the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) does not list Pakistan under the offensive label. Moreover, the connection of immigration and Bhutto’s death in Huckabee’s statement was lost on the public and the media.

The general opinions of people who see Huckabee as a president in 2012 vary from indifferent to full on supportive. People have observed that he has plenty of potential and a good knowledge on a lot of things. His views are controversial but bold, especially those on bailouts. However some see him as “just another conservative republican” who believes more in faith than science (with reference to his endorsement of the movie ‘Expelled’ which is anti-evolution). Some others (both democrats and republicans) believe that Barack Obama has too much of a winning chance in the 2012 elections for any other candidate, republican or democratic to win. This means that they are really not disapproving Huckabee and they respect his decisions but they just think that there are other candidates who might stand a better chance.

Mike Huckabee is not too vocal about his plans for 2012 and he thinks that he should wait until the right time comes for him to reveal even whether he would compete or not.