Why not Santorum?

In this campaign, meanwhile, nobody has been more substantive. His major policy speeches on defense and the role of faith in public life were tours de force, and on Friday he added a bold speech on a plethora of social issues. He also enthusiastically embraced House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan’s spending reforms even when others like Newt Gingrich were trying to distance themselves from it.

None of which is to say that Santorum is a perfect candidate. As strong as he has been on substance in debates, for instance, he hasn’t gained in the polls — perhaps because while his attack-dog habits have succeeded in hurting other candidates, they haven’t redounded to his own advantage. Any adviser would tell him henceforth to stop interrupting other candidates, to smile more, and to spend more time offering a positive agenda that stresses the good it will do for American citizens rather than the good it shows about his own character. Santorum needs to give a better sense it is the nation’s virtues, not his own, that he is extolling.

Those, however, are correctable style points. They don’t require an essential change in his character, his specific issue positions, or his overall message. Nor would Rick Santorum be likely to change those essentials. Perhaps the most refreshing thing about Santorum, from the moment he entered the nationals scene in 1990, is that there’s no fakery about him. His genuineness is palpable. His sincerity is unquestionable. His conservative bona fides are superb.