Much of the commentary about Tim Pawlenty in the last three days has centered on whether or not the former Minnesota governor can recover from his abysmal performance in the Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire on Monday. Pawlenty’s defenders believe that the memory of the awkward moment when he froze when asked to back up strong criticisms of rival Mitt Romney will soon fade.
While positive spin was to be expected from Pawlenty’s camp, even as sharp an observer as Rush Limbaugh dismissed the furor over Pawlenty’s refusal to repeat his denunciation of Romney’s Massachusetts health care bill as “Obamneycare” to his face. Limbaugh claimed this week that it was all the invention of liberal journalists who wanted more internecine warfare between the candidates rather than a chorus of condemnation of President Obama.
But though Rush’s instincts are usually on target when it comes to scoping out the Republican lineup, the problem here is that it was conservatives who were more turned off by Pawlenty’s timidity when given the opportunity to take on his main rival than anyone on the left. After all, it was conservatives who blasted Romney’s lame attempt to draw a distinction between his Massachusetts legislation and Obamacare. Rather than an invitation to a “food fight,” as Pawlenty’s backer Vin Webber put it, this was Pawlenty’s chance to hammer this point home and he flubbed it, leaving viewers with the impression that he was the sort of person who would talk about a rival behind his back but wasn’t man enough to say the same words to his face.
This terrible moment was made even worse because it came on the same night that Michele Bachmann, Pawlenty’s Minnesota antagonist and principle rival in the Iowa caucuses made an impressive debut on the national stage. Pawlenty has branded himself as something of a wimp, not exactly the impression he wanted to leave Republicans with on the night they were introduced to the gutsy though sometimes reckless Bachmann.
It is, of course, true that this happened very early in the process and, as Weber told the New York Times, the media’s attention span is short. That means he has plenty of time to make up for his gaffe and continue giving substantive and impressive speeches such as his campaign launch in Iowa and his economics speech at the University of Chicago. But the question for Pawlenty is whether the Republicans who have been trying to evaluate a largely unknown Midwestern governor have now gotten the idea that he is too “Minnesota nice” to take on Romney, let alone Barack Obama next year. If that is who Pawlenty really is, time isn’t the answer to his problems. The lingering suspicion is that Monday’s moment was not matter of bad coaching or just a bad night but a window into Pawlenty’s pleasant but placid character. If that turns out to be the case, no amount of spin will save his campaign.
