CBN’s chief political reporter David Brody fawns over every Republican politician he meets, and a recent blog post gushes over Rand Paul’s presidential prospects. You see, Brody explains, Rand Paul sometimes wears blue jeans, and his jeans “could take him into straight into The White House.”
“While other politicians are wearing a suit and tie, Paul is different,” he writes. “Paul’s choice of leg attire represents something. Whether the senator from Kentucky knows it or not, it’s his calling card to say he’s unique, different, and a trendsetter within the Republican Party.”
He goes on to hail Paul’s decision to wear jeans as a sign that “he’s leading” and “creating a new playbook and trying to create a new, younger, more diverse GOP voting constituency.”
Brody’s belief that Paul is radically transforming the foundering public image of the GOP is sadly not that unlike the general Republican playbook of changing the party’s appearance while not actually altering any of their ultraconservative stances.
Let’s be clear: Anyone who thinks Rand Paul can’t win the GOP nomination for president of the United States is foolish. He can. And if he wins, his “jeans” will be the reason. The jeans symbolize something that no other potential candidate for president possesses. Let’s explore.
You see, Rand Paul likes to wear jeans. While other politicians are wearing a suit and tie, Paul is different. At the recent CPAC event, all the other politicians went with the traditional look. Not Paul. Jeans were in order.
Some conservative commentators were upset. Peggy Noonan remarked that, “it’s not unusual for a man to wear jeans with a tie and jacket. They look like happy farmers, or cable TV anchors whose desks don’t show their legs. That being said, could we not wear grown-up suits when we are running for high office?”
But Noonan fails to grasp the deeper meaning.
Paul’s choice of leg attire represents something. Whether the senator from Kentucky knows it or not, it’s his calling card to say he’s unique, different, and a trendsetter within the Republican Party. His libertarian “genes” are represented in those blue jeans.
What we are witnessing is a man who has no desire to use the same tired old GOP playbook that’s been trotted out for decades. He’s creating a new playbook and trying to create a new, younger, more diverse GOP voting constituency.
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So when he wears those blue jeans, it neatly fits in with his persona. After all, his libertarian “genes” fit perfectly inside those blue jeans. It’s non-traditional, just like libertarians. He’s not waiting around for others to figure out what the Republican Party needs to do and be. He’s stepping to the plate first. He’s leading.
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He also understands that the traditional Republican orthodoxy of the past needs to change in order to win future elections. Does that mean those conservative principles need to change? No, of course not. But a fresh, different approach is needed.
And Rand Paul is going to do his best to walk that new path…in a pair of blue jeans that could take him into straight into The White House.
