Gingrich Offers Analysis, Praise for Obama and Daniels at Annual Dinner

With nearly 1,200 in attendance at the Convention Center in Indianapolis last night, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich offered his thoughts on the 2008 election. The Evansville Courier Press has the story:

Gingrich described the historic sweep of Obama’s election as not just the first black candidate elected president, but a son of an immigrant as well. "He brings to bear all the great American traditions, that people can come from anywhere and become American and learn the American system and be integrated into the pursuit of happiness," Gingrich said.

Obama’s rise from an Illinois state senator to U.S. senator to 44th president within the space of four years didn’t happen by accident or luck, Gingrich said. "This is a person who is stunningly disciplined — not just that he is bright, but he is a very disciplined, methodical person."

Gingrich said Obama’s victory and gains made by congressional Democrats were the results of "a failure crisis" by President Bush’s administration and congressional Republicans over their handling of the Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina and federal spending. "I think the Republican Party is struggling to get beyond incompetence," contended Gingrich, who in the mid-1990s was the nation’s highest-ranking Republican elected official. "In my mind, this was a performance election, not an ideological election," he told the Indiana business leaders.

Leave a Reply