Pawlenty's Courage to Stand: A Book Review
Recent autobiographical writer of Courage to Stand and ex-governor Tim Pawlenty has been traveling around the country promoting his new book. While addressing leadership and principles becoming of an American politician Pawlenty offers his background and how he got he start in politics. He points out how no manual is offered when becoming a leader and tough choices need to be made in a fiscal and moral manner. Moreover he cites that every politician will be nipping at your heels for a piece of meat and that as a leader you must have the courage to say no when necessary.
Pawlenty thinks of himself as a Sam’s Club Republican which essentially means that he is a mainstream republican that supports the common man rather than the well-off. More and more the Republican Party is becoming more diverse and it’s no longer a country club for rich people. He believes that many social conservative’s ideas are being undermined by a few republicans who wish to only serve the upper class.
A major contention Pawlenty makes is that there is just too much spending in Washington and in his book he describes how he had the courage to say no to spending as governor of Minnesota. He addresses some major budget crises that the state was facing and a few showdowns with state legislators over cuts. As governor he managed to fix a 4.8 billion dollars budget, but it didn’t go without a few showdowns with state legislators. In 2005, Pawlenty shutdown the government for ten days because the democrats wouldn’t agree to his budget cuts which caused a major outcry from liberals in the state. Pawlenty did this because he knew it was the right thing to do to fix the lingering crisis and had the courage to stand up for Minnesota and he beliefs.
In 2008 Pawlenty was on the top of McCain’s list of potential vice presidential candidates; however he was ultimately looked over and the McCain campaign chose Sarah Palin. Pawlenty states his fondness for Sarah Palin and her ability to rally conservatives in a meaningful way and admires her passion for conservative ideas.
Pawlenty also discusses his personal life growing up South St. Paul Minnesota and examines his life experiences saying they played a major factor in what kind of man he is today. As a teenager Tim Pawlenty lost his mother to cancer when he was only 15 years old and learned about death at an early age. Though good times and bad he learned valuable life lessons that enabled him to later be a successful leader.
Polls show Pawlenty as a Tea Party favorite amongst Tea Party voters. Currently, he places sixth just below five unlikely candidates that have either stated they won’t run or are suspected not to make the bid for president in 2012. More interesting, the latest online Tea Party Straw Poll shows that Pawlenty is leading Sarah Palin, who placed ninth. 2012.
Read Pawlenty's Courage To Stand or learn more about his platform for the republican 2012 primary
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