The following is an excerpt from Heather Mac Donald in Politico Magazine.
'I would most like to see Chris Christie face off against Hillary Clinton.’
A Republican’s biggest challenge in facing a Democrat debater is countering the not implausible claim that the solution to most problems is a government program. A Republican facing Hillary Clinton has an additional challenge of going up against a female. Fox News’s Megyn Kelly gave a peerless demonstration of the feminist double standard during the first Republican debate when she attacked Donald Trump for his nasty comments about females. Trump disparages men and women on an equal opportunity basis. But feminists revert to a stance of offended Victorian delicacy when a female is the target of uninhibited criticism.
I would most like to see Chris Christie face off against Hillary Clinton. He has the most confident, clear and virile delivery of the Republican field. But he is the most likely to trigger feminist vapors for his aggressiveness. And Bridgegate appears to be a bridge too far.
Fiorina is obviously inoculated against the gender card. Her critique of Obamacare last night as “crony capitalism at its worst”—a thousand-page bill that no one can understand—was highly effective. Also notable was her invocation of innovation and entrepreneurship as America’s secret sauce. Her own lackluster record at Hewlett Packard leaves her vulnerable to attack, however, even though being a mediocre CEO is a better preparation than being a successful politician for understanding the burdens that misguided government imposes on the economy. Fiorina’s explanation last night of zero-based budgeting was less than crystalline. To my mind, she overcompensates for being a female with greater than usual hawkishness, but that will not hurt her with the base.
That leaves Rubio. Carson is too tentative and mild in his delivery, however compelling his discussion last night of the minimum wage. Trump is too ignorant about policy, not to mention being an out-of-control boor. Cruz will rub too many people the wrong way, though his challenge to amnesty supporters last night to try to enter Mexico or China illegally and see how those countries would respond was masterful.
Rubio is a startlingly eloquent explainer of the philosophical and economic virtues of capitalism. The minutiae of the candidates’ tax plans are irrelevant. Few voters are going to decide based on whether someone has a 10 percent fair tax or a 16 percent flat tax. Rubio’s greatest handicap in opposing Clinton is his boyish appearance and high-pitched voice, which cut against the needed gravitas. Rand was right to criticize Rubio’s child care tax credits as inconsistent with a rigorous conservatism, but such hand-outs will likely not hurt him in the general election.
This piece originally appeared in POLITICO