This is just a personal impression, without reams of data behind it (well, except for Cruz’s not-so-great poll numbers). But I think the two different conservative writers who both reached for the word “oleaginous” to describe Cruz are getting at the core problem with his candidacy: As smart and accomplished as he is, as much as he’s done to play to what Domenech calls the “populist energized conservative voter,” there just isn’t enough there for people to really relate to, identify with, and like.
And that isn’t a problem you can solve by having Ivy League degrees, by being more conservative than your rivals, or by out-debating them on points. Which is why, in the end, I look at Cruz and see someone who might have less in common with Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama than he has with another Harvard graduate and expert debater who once competed well in the Iowa caucuses.
I speak, of course, of Alan Keyes.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member