On Thursday night, Governor John Kasich of Ohio delivered a heated speech in which he expressed his worry over the future of the Republican Party. This speech outlined Kasich’s outrage over his Republican colleagues’ general agreement that the Medicaid and Medicare programs ought to be scaled back, making clear Kasich’s disappointment with the current state of his party. During the third GOP Debate, held by CNBC, Kasich opened with this outrage, avoiding an awkward questioning of his weaknesses and instead diving into this anger.
Kasich had a pretty good night. While repetitive, his insistence that we need a balanced budget appeals to conservatives and moderates across the board. Citing his record in the Clinton administration and his successful term as Ohio’s governor, Kasich made the case that he is the candidate most prepared to create jobs, cut taxes, and manage the budget. Kasich wants to improve healthcare by incentivizing efforts to promote proactive consciousness of health, rather than focus on retroactive treatment once people are sick. Kasich discussed his take on taxes, college education, and the legalization of marijuana, but perhaps the most important point he made had to do with the motto of many of the candidates from both sides: “Make America Great Again,” a phrase we often hear from candidates, not only in this election, but in elections over the past two decades. John Kasich wants to know how. As he said on Wednesday night, we can’t just be great again, asking if “We’re just gonna be great?” Becoming a great country “again” is too broad of a concept. Yes, we want to be an amazing country and do amazing things, but we often associate greatness with perfection, and perfection is unachievable. Kasich says that “we need to wake up,” a warning directed not only at the other GOP candidates, but also at the American people in general. He addressed on Wednesday how ridiculous it is that two of the frontrunners in this election have absolutely no experience in public office, obviously outraged that the American people gravitate towards someone with no experience and no knowledge on how to run a government, which, for someone who has experience and knowledge, is endlessly frustrating.
Although Kasich’s performance faltered in the second half of the debate, as he didn’t get as much speaking time, he did accomplish what he needed to. Kasich expressed not only his policy positions, but also relayed his passion for government. Usually, we see Republicans try to put down government, and in the case of Marco Rubio, even refuse to show up to the Capital, but Kasich showed the audience that belief in a smaller government does not inherently necessitate belief in some evil nature of the federal government. He thinks the right and the left need to compromise with each other to meet somewhere in the middle rather than insist on immovable partisanship. John Kasich, while not a frontrunner at the moment, is slowly working his way into the minds of the public, and we may see his poll numbers rise very soon.