Pawlenty gains traction, touches White House nerve

Gov. Tim Pawlenty's Facebook page has drawn 99,000 supporters, and the page also touts praise from GE titan Jack Welch. Pawlenty is having a good week. [Screen Snip/Tim Pawlenty Facebook page]Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty didn’t exactly come out of the gate swinging. When he first talked about his potential candidacy for president, he came across as a pretty nice fellow who might not be comfortable with the verbal combat sure to come.

Nice, as we know, will not cut it in 2012. Rest assured there will be ugly.

The nation is poised for an epic battle between proponents of European socialism and those of us who want less government in their daily lives. I suppose you could call the camp I'm in the America First camp.

Now Pawlenty has obviously gained traction and he has most definitely touched a White House nerve. Or two.

CNN ran a story, citing remarks from an Internet blog directory. David Axelrod, above-prime media guru and shaper of progressive thought, carped about job growth over the last ten years after criticizing Pawlenty’s economic platform. Axelrod is master planner for President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign—he said of Pawlenty, "What he should Google is 'what happened to income for the last decade,' when in many ways the policies that he prescribed were the governing theory."

Of course the Axe missed the boat on the wage disparity created by progressive policy—importing large numbers of workers who will most definitely work for less and make few demands on employers as well as growing ever-larger numbers of federal workers whose wages far outpace the private sector. The myriad regulations progressives push, coupled with stifling domestic energy production, are a barrier to jobs and wages. This administration has been anything but job friendly and the numbers reflect it.

Maybe Axelrod needs a mirror like Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) has so he can get a look at the real problem.

A day or two ago I heard Pawlenty call the Obama economy “third rate.” I thought that was a good start.

Now Pawlenty’s spokesman Alex Conant has fired back at the progressive camp: "President Obama's team is content with anemic growth and trillion dollar deficits for as far as the eye can see. Frankly, we're not going to be lectured by somebody who helped rack up trillions in new debt and accepts pathetic economic growth as the best America can do."

Obviously Pawlenty is getting some fire in his belly, and by doing that, he should gain some momentum. When the Democrats in the White House go on offense, that’s always a good thing if you’re a Republican candidate.

Points to Pawlenty. A little fire in the belly is a good thing. Even Politico admitted the benefits.   

Pawlenty even picked up some points, unintentionally, among his fellow GOP candidates. Gov. Mitt Romney refuses to back down from his global warming/climate change (formerly the Little Ice Age) endorsement.

Meanwhile, Pawlenty’s Facebook page numbers and his social media presence should grow accordingly. Hat tip to Team Pawlenty.

(Commentary by Kay B. Day/June 9, 2011)

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