United Liberty

Once again, Newt Gingrich is hinting at a run for the Republican nomination for President:

Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker and perennial big thinker in the Republican party, said this morning that he will likely run for president in 2012 if he and his wife, Callista, assess the field of candidates in 2011 and feel “a requirement as citizens that we run.”

Here’s the transcript from C-Span’s Washington Journal

C-SPAN: “If you were to run, what factors would you take into account? What would lead you to think about running?”

GINGRICH: “Callista and I are going to think about this in February 2011. And we are going to reach out to all of our friends around the country. And we’ll decide, if there’s a requirement as citizens that we run, I suspect we probably will. And if there’s not a requirement, if other people have filled the vacuum, I suspect we won’t.”

This isn’t the first time that the political world has seen Gingrich play this game.

Back in 2006 when the Republican field for 2008 was first forming, there were hints that he was thinking about running. And, while he ultimately decided against running, he gave hints for several months that he was considering it, and even called the entire GOP field “pathetic pygmies” as late as July 2007.

For some time prior to 2008, the idea of a Gingrich candidacy was something that interesting me, but those days are over. It’s pretty clear to me that Newt has not outlived the baggage of the 1990s, for example, which makes it hard to see him as a credible nationwide candidate. More importantly, though, it’s becoming eminently clear that Newt’s own form of “national greatness” conservatism — along with his support of such big government programs as the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit and last year’s TARP bailout — is precisely the wrong thing for America and the Republican Party at this time.

So Newt in ‘12? I say no.