By Baker Ambrose

Iowa, New Hampshire and now South Carolina; and the Republican field is still volatile. Since initial announcements by Michele Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain, John Huntsman and later Rick Perry, the voters of the Republican Party have struggled to find the candidate capable of defeating President Barrack Obama. Yet throughout this primary race, some rather surprising and unpredictable occurrences have made this primary…. well… less than traditional.

Tim Pawlenty dropped out and threw his less than momentous weight behind Romney. Representative Bachmann rapidly rose to the second tier then bowed out. Herman Cain burned hot and fast but need we recap that spectacle? Rick Perry has struggled, fumbled and hinted towards “reevaluation” but vies for South Carolina as his last stand. Liberty-minded Dr. Ron Paul came in third in Iowa, second in New Hampshire but with little expectations of winning the nomination. Though an outlier, Ron Paul is poised to carry his message to the GOP Convetion, finally leaving his following’s mark within the party. Rick Santorum has experienced the same hotness but it’s anybody’s guess how he and Newt Gingrich will fair in South Carolina and moving forward. Huntsman fell in line behind Romney after a disappointing showing in his “Santorum state,” New Hampshire.

Then there’s good ol’ Mitt Romney. He has been the expectation but not the favorite. Every candidate has taken aim at his record, his business, his loyalty to conservatism but Romney remains the most likely winner of this Primary. In terms of electability, he is projected to give President Obama the staunchest opposition within Independent voting blocks around the country. Some pundits and talking heads say he is the inevitable selection to the GOP which enduring the new growth from the Tea Party and libertarian factions. Lest we forget he is the only candidate to win both Iowa and New Hampshire. And just because he ranks rather high in our 2012 GOP Dream Team List doesn’t mean we are endorsing him, it just means we have accepted the overwhelming likelihood that he will be granted the sacred nod from hesitant GOP Primary voters.

Of course, for many of our readers most of this information isn’t new but as many of the previously mentioned candidates have said, any of the candidates would prove to be far better and more consistent than Obama.

Here at Tu Ne Cede Malis we thought it would be fun to assemble a ‘dream team’ of the current GOP presidential field (as well as other prominent conservative leaders) to some of the key posts within a presidential administration.

Indeed the fun here is the unrealistic nature of this assembly but if you’re conservative then perhaps this article will prove stimulating to your imagination regarding the many potentialities of such an administration.

Before we begin, let us explore some presidential appointment facts:

·       the president-elect can make approximately 14,000 appointments before or during the first days of taking office

·       each appointment is unique in its procedural confirmation process and many appointment have been historically controversial

Suppose the next Republican presidential nominee defeats the billion-dollar Obama war chest and overcomes favoritism from the leftist media, the work of implementing our ‘dream team’ would not only be controversial but likely characterized as dictatorial. Incoming presidents have authority to remove existing department or agency heads but such dismissals can be subject to congressional actions which may disallow replacement by our ‘dream team’ nominees. Since we, as conservatives, believe in the rule of law, we accept the current powers of the legislative branch. However, since this piece is about the fun of imagining a complete Republican ‘dream team’ comprised of some of the most prominent elected officials, candidates, entrepreneurs and thinkers, we would prefer to assume the GOP will be able to implement such appointments consequently moving this country towards prosperity and regained prominence.

For the purposes of this imaginary exercise, this piece outlines the Republican Dream Team in the current order of succession for appointments to federal offices. We acknowledge two major factors which contribute to the plausibility of this list and first of which is the legislative wins we must accrue within the third and fourth successional positions.  

The rationale for doing so is twofold: first it highlights the order of power within our government and secondly, illustrates the key department positions which affect every facet of our society.

Imagine what we Republicans, Tea Partiers, Libertarians and right-leaning independents could accomplish in terms of downsizing, saving, deregulating, and trimming? Let us begin:

1.     President       

a.      Mitt Romney (former Governor of Massachusetts)

2.     Vice President *Tie*

a.      Tim Pawlenty (former Governor of Minnesota)

b.     Bob McDonnell (current Virginia Governor)

3.     Speaker of the House

a.      Eric Cantor (current Virginia Representative)

4.     Senate Pro Tempore

a.      Marco Rubio (sitting Florida Senator)

5.     Secretary of State

a.      John Huntsman (former Utah Governor and Ambassador to China)

6.     Secretary of the Treasury

a.      Ron Paul (current Texas Representatives)

7.     Secretary of Defense

a.      John Bolton (former Ambassador to the United Nations)

8.     United States Attorney General

a.      Michele Bachmann (current Minnesota Representative)

9.     Secretary of the Interior

a.      Sarah Palin (former Governor of Alaska)

10.  Secretary of Agriculture

a.      Kristi Noem (current South Dakota Representative)

11.  Secretary of Commerce

a.      Steve Forbes (CEO)

12.  Secretary of Labor

a.      Scott Walker (current Governor of Wisconsin)

13.  Secretary of Health & Human Services

a.      Newt Gingrich (former Speaker of the House, Georgia)

14.  Secretary of Housing & Urban Development

a.      Kelly Ayotte (current New Hampshire Senator)

15.  Secretary of Transportation

a.      John Kasich (current Ohio Governor)

16.  Secretary of Energy

a.      Rick Perry (current and longest serving Governor of Texas)

17.  Secretary of Education

a.      Gary Johnson (former Governor of New Mexico)

18.  Veteran Affairs

a.      Colin Powell (former Secretary of State)

19.  Secretary of Homeland Security

a.      Rick Santorum (former Pennsylvania Senator)

Key Diplomatic Positions:

1.     Ambassador to the United Nations

a.      Nikki Haley (current South Carolina Governor)

2.     Ambassador to Israel

a.      Joe Lieberman (current Independent Connecticut Senator)

3.     Ambassador to the United Kingdom

a.      Bobby Jindal (current Louisiana Governor)

4.     Ambassador to China

a.      Herman Cain (CEO and Federal Reserve Chairman of Kansas City)

So that’s it. That is the list. I and the team intend on revising along the way. Yet in developing this list we couldn’t ignore that should list become a reality, ten of the 23 outlined positions would result in a key Republican absence within their current positions. There’s no way to tell which way voters would swing in the various state elections which may heed negative results due to backlash from such drastic appointments. To a deeper point; what sort of hypocrisy be rightfully applied (or not) to the actions that we, as Republicans, would endeavor to utilize the beastly federal machine for its own downsize and demise? Yet as conservatives we would be wise to nurture such cohesion with our team so as to inflict to most private growth by lessening the vastness of government. I believe we could accomplish such cohesion, but for fun in politics let us imagine this list… or a slightly different one.

 *Note: this list is not an endorsement of any candidate but rather an outline designed to paint a conservative picture by which our readers can imagine the productivity and capability of a federal government administered by a wide array of conservative leaders.