Last March, I wrote a post about Republican presidential
candidates’ Sister Souljah opportunities and how they had flunked them: Mitt
Romney failing to take a budget deal that would give him 90% of what he wanted,
the 2016 candidates failing to push back against Donald Trump’s insults.
Well, Ted Cruz was given a second chance yesterday and he grabbed
it. Except that he was immediately cast as
a Judas.
The original Sister Souljah moment was Bill Clinton speaking as a
candidate to Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition and rejecting a well known black
activist’s call for black on white violence.
In the immediate aftermath, he suffered a drop in support from some
quarters, but eventually more than made up for that with moderate
Americans.
Yesterday, Ted Cruz refused to endorse Donald Trump, calling
instead for Republicans to stick to principles and vote their conscience. Today, at a breakfast of Texas delegates, he
added that he couldn’t endorse a candidate who insulted his family. What took him so long?
The party reaction was telling and frankly shocking: the New York delegation screamed and booed; on
CNN, a Trump official could barely control himself calling for Cruz’ party
exclusion, Governor Christie was likewise furious and the general audience didn’t
fare much better.
Ted Cruz took major risks with that speech and the fallout was
immediate. Most political commentators accused him of careerism. The party was exposed as more divided than it
wanted to appear. Party grandees who had
fallen in line behind Donald Trump realized that they could be dangerously
exposed in case the Trump candidacy failed come November.
Accusing Cruz of weighing in career considerations in such a major
decision seems disingenuous to me. Likewise,
denying that he may have principles seems unfair. What is undeniable is that he showed great courage
and that he will be, with Donald Trump, the most memorable Republican figure of
2016.
Whether this will have been his Sister Souljah moment, time will
tell. I believe that it will eventually strengthen
his influence within the Republican Party: he will have warned about the
Republican nominee’s shortcomings, he will have name recognition, and he
clearly showed more courage than his peers.
But unless he moderates his views I don’t see him in the White House in 2020.