It's the ObamaCare, stupid! "I believe Rick Santorum is our man"

"There is hope for our Nation again / Maybe for the First time Since we Had Ronald Reagan," home-schooled Tulsa, Oklahoma sisters Camille and Haley Harris of First Love Band (above) sing their hearts out in a foot-tapping, All-American video that's gone viral: "Yes I believe Rick Santorum is our man! / Game ON! He's got the Plan /  Lower Taxes, Raise Morale, To Put the Power in our Hands."

"This race is coming down to the economy, the deficit and control of your life, which is ObamaCare," an upbeat Daniel Henninger quoted Rick Santorum on the campaign trail Super Tuesday Eve in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, noting parenthetically that "there was no mention of contraception, gays or the role of women."

In August, no one thought this guy would be toe-to-toe with the Romney machine in March. What happened?

I went to Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, Monday to find out. Out of 1,189,530 votes cast the next day in bellwether Ohio, Mr. Santorum lost to Mitt Romney by only 10,288, at last count. He's doing something right, and what one learned in Cuyahoga Falls, an Akron suburb, is that it doesn't have much to do with the famous Santorum controversies over social issues. It's about ObamaCare. And it's about the idea of freedom.

A mind-focussing, dueling-videos embodiment of the cultural-wars divide: This season's wholesome Heartland hotties' First Love Band Santorum video (top of post) vs the steamy "viral video of 2007," Obama Girl's "Crush on Obama (above) that includes raunchy double-entendre subtitles like "Universal health care reform / it makes me warm … Up in the Oval Office you'll get your head of state … I like it when you get hard on Hillary in debate." Take your pick.

While mainstream media types were obsessing all week over an Obama-friendly, manufactured crisis — Don't ever let one go to waste! — that the White House and its fellow travelers were frantically trying to spin as a Republican "War on Women," Rick Santorum was quietly going about his rounds under the radar in towns like Cuyahoga Falls. Henninger explains:

In any other election, complaining about the size of government might be GOP boilerplate. Not now. Mr. Santorum put the current moment's elevated concern about government in broader context. Of regulation, he said: "There's been this huge explosion of the federal government … I've talked to so many business people who say, 'I could live with Clinton, Bush, it was a little better, but I'm spending all my time trying to figure out what this president is doing next to me.'"

Henninger nails it this morning on Fox:

The deficit, the economy and the right to run your life … I think Santorum has tapped into something that none of us had recognized.

I think he's finally found his way to an idea that resonates. Under Obama, government has gottten bigger and bigger. It's gotten too big. Obama is impinging on their space.

The day Santorum's status rose is the day he turned to Mitt Romney and took apart RomneyCare piece by piece. It is that word, the mandate, the forcing mechanism that resonates.

"Something that none of us had recognized." Ties in nicely with the Twitter hashtags of the week, #VetThePrez and #VetThePress as the late Andrew Brietbart's re-enspirited Breitbart.com and Michelle Malkin's new curator-rich Twitchy.com flood the social media space with the facts, ma'am, just the facts.

We know it's unfair, but compare this image of First Love Band's littlest player (above) with the sluttish Obama Girl of half a decade ago. :)

This just in on Fox as we go to press:

A good day for Rick Santorum. He swept Kansas caucuses with 57% of the vote.

"This election is about big things … We have to have a nominee who can get up there and draw a clear contrast with the President of the United States."

Crossposted at Riehl World View.

Comments

[goomp]

Santorum follows the right path that leads to freedom and prosperity. Can the voters recognize the man they need to guide government back to these goals?

[BR]

" We have to have a nominee who can get up there and draw a clear contrast with the President ..."

Wouldn't THAT be a change - an entirely different strategy than 2008. Too much to hope for, I suppose.

[Gayle Miller]

I just hope he can go toe-to-toe with The Won in the debates. I know Newt could mop the floor with him, but I'm not totally sure about Santorum.

Of course, for the VP debates, Santorum could have Minnie Mouse as a running mate and he/she would totally destroy Biden!

[Stoutcat]

Oooh, you said "sluttish"! That's bound to get you the finger of scorn from all right-thinking womyn. (And by "right-thinking" of course I mean LEFT-thinking, or NON-thinking, as the case may be.)

[gs]

A conservative blog I used to follow gave up defending Senator Santorum on his path to a well-earned landslide reelection loss. Among other things, he opposes libertarian influence in the GOP.

IMO two groups are celebrating today: Santorum supporters...and Democrats.

I'll keep my fingers crossed in November and vote for Newt. I'll wear a gas mask and vote for Mitt. I will not vote for Santorum.

Sissy, you did a fantastic job against Martha Coakley.

But George Bush? And now Santorum?

I fear we were allies of convenience.