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| As 'the Hawk' would say, he's ovah! |
Yet
any disgust that I might feel at the thought that Trump will be the Republican
candidate in the November general election truly is tempered by the reality of
this day – Ted Cruz is gone.
CRUZ,
THE SENATOR from Texas who got elected by ideologue Tea Party types and
campaigned for president with the attitude that he was going to implement those
social conservative ideals upon all of us regardless of whether we had any
desire for them or not, is history.
His
defeat in the Indiana primaries gives Trump so many more delegates at this late
stage in the primary election cycle that it is next to impossible for Cruz to
gain with the few primaries remaining.
So
Cruz, the so-called Cuban Canadian who always tried to make it seem as though
he was as true-blue Texan as any other white man in the southwest, stepped
back.
He
officially dropped out of the campaign. That leaves only John Kasich of Ohio,
who is so far back that he can’t even dream of overcoming the real estate
developer from New York who thinks the whole world needs buildings bearing his
name.
I
HAVE TO confess feeling joy at the idea of Cruz’s political failure. Back when
there were 18 candidates seeking the Republican nomination for president, Cruz
and his ideological temperament was the one that stood out in my mind – as in
the absolute last one I would want to see gain the GOP nomination.
From
my perspective, the fact that Cruz lasted so long and came so close, and wound
up being perceived by the Republican establishment as the voice of reason
compared to the ego-bloated nonsense of a Trump is truly the evidence of why I
could never seriously consider myself as a Republican.
Not
that I’m always “proud” to be a Democrat – the party has its share of
knuckle-heads. But I feel like I’d have to seriously be brain-dead to have to
choose from the Republican picks of 2016. I feel sorry for those who did do so.
It’s
not so much the written list of stances that one could put together of where
Cruz stands on certain issues. It’s more the attitude he gave off.
A
CERTAIN SMUGNESS of how he was going to do what he wanted, didn’t care what
others thought, and was prepared to ram his ideals down our throats. Kind of
like some parent thoroughly smacking his or her kid about and telling them it
was for their own good.
Of
course, there’s also a part of my attitude toward Cruz that came from the fact
I’m only a couple of years older than he is and that he and I were in college
back about the same time (although I’m not claiming I ever met the future
senator from the Lone Star State).
He
reminds me of the kind of guy who used to annoy everybody else living on the
floor of the college dormitory – the one who came home one day from a part-time
job he had in town to find his bed, dresser and all personal belongings moved
down the hall to the men’s room.
And
whom the rest of us secretly laughed our behinds off at the sight of him having
to move all his belongings back to his room all by himself.
NOW
I DON’T know for sure if Cruz ever experienced anything like that in college.
But he also reminds me of several people I knew back in college – the ones who
viewed their education as the credential that would give them the right to think
of themselves as better than everybody else.
I
sense that Cruz on this Tuesday probably thinks his defeat was a great
injustice that his “superior intellect” did not prevail. Then again, let’s
remember “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” where Ricardo Montalban’s character
had the superior intellect that failed to beat Captain Kirk and wound up being
incinerated in an outer space explosion.
Perhaps
if Cruz ever learns a little humility, he could have a political comeback.
That,
and learns to take advantage of his father’s ethnic heritage (the Cubano side).
Latinos were prepared to vote against him en masse come November because of the
vibe he gives off of being anti- their interests – and probably would have
claimed to be Canadian before he’d ever seek their voter support.
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