Pawlenty = Boring? Not this week!

Presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty has been getting slammed for being "boring." In my opinion, this is unfair for two reasons.

First of all, flashiness and soaring rhetoric and a deliriously excited media got us Barack Obama. We've had immature comments slandering Cambridge police officers followed by a silly little "beer summit," an endless series of self-aggrandizing speeches, unconstitutional expansions of executive power (ceding control to appointed czars, increased efforts to bypass Congress through regulatory power grabs, violation of the War Powers Act regarding U.S. military action in Libya, etc.), and his recent short-sighted comments that Israel should return to the 1967 borders. In contrast to all of that nonsense, I really like the idea of putting a stable adult in charge, someone who will act out of logic and rational strategy, not emotion and ego.

Second, Pawlenty has been anything but boring this week. After weeks of painfully awkward and embarrassing campaign launches like Newt Gingrich's backstabbing comments about Paul Ryan to Mitt Romney's blindness to the weaknesses of Romneycare, it was refreshing to see Pawlenty come out of the gate looking strong and confident.

Here's the official campaign announcement video. It's a solid message:

YouTube | GovernorTimPawlenty | Tim Pawlenty - A Time for Truth

These campaign videos are always at least a little schlocky but Pawlenty sounds strong and confident here. I like the message. One of my favorite lines:

I know the American Dream, because I've lived it. And I know for it to be there for the next generation, we're gonna have to do more than give fancy speeches. We've had three years of that, and it's not working.

Pawlenty made his official campaign announcement on Monday in Iowa, where he boldly told the audience that ethanol subsidies needed to be phased out. Ethanol subsidies are a big flippin' deal in corn-field-covered Iowa, so saying something like that to Iowan voters took a giant pair of you-know-whats.

Some people will be upset by what I'm saying.

Conventional wisdom says you can't talk about ethanol in Iowa or Social Security in Florida or financial reform on Wall Street.

But someone has to say it.  Someone has to finally stand up and level with the American people.  Someone has to lead.

When times get tough, there's always a temptation among politicians to try to turn the American people against one-another.  Some try to fan the flames of envy and resentment as a way to deflect attention from their own responsibilities.

But that's not good enough.  Our problems demand - and our children deserve - much more from us this time.

I am still making up my mind about the Presidential race, but Pawlenty's earned a place on my short list. What do you think about him?

[Cross-posted at The Minority Report and Red County]