Steve, you are absolutely right, except you buried the lede.
Ted Cruz’s strategy is smart: he needs to get in the race early, develop a small-donor fundraising strategy, and be seen as a fearless, full-spectrum conservative. He was smart to go to Liberty University, because evangelicals are not only an important part of the GOP base but are also feeling attacked in a whole new way. It was an excellent, well written and well delivered speech.
But there was a big, obvious hole in the middle of Cruz’s speech: he offered no solutions for the problems he named.
On abortion, for example: why didn’t he promise to fight for the 20 week bill? On religious liberty, the easy bill to support is the Marriage and Religious Freedom Restoration Act. His flat tax mentioned a postcard but no rate.
One problem: in the absence of support for specific legislation, the left can claim you are pushing for anything they imagine voters will hate. But the bigger problem is that you are running for president, not messiah—people need solutions to protect the things they hold dear.
Jeff Bell is the Policy Director at American Principles in Action.