Santorum quits: What kind of America will Obama or Romney be left with?

With Rick Santorum bowing out of the race to be the Republican candidate for the White House in 2012, Mitt Romney is essentially guaranteed the title. Santorum cited, as a factor, the illness of his daughter Bella, taken to hospital on Friday with pneumonia. The three-year-old girl also has a life-threatening genetic disorder known as Trisomy 18. The reaction to the story of the suspension of the campaign, on the Fox News website, contained the usual mix of vitriol against President Obama, a few messages of support, and relief that the season of Republican self-destruction was finally coming to the end. In the land of free speech, there were these gems (spelling and grammar kept as online): [caption id=“attachment_271896” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“With Rick Santorum bowing out of the race to be the Republican candidate for the White House in 2012, Mitt Romney is essentially guaranteed the title. AP”] [/caption] - “Santorum quits, turns his back on all his supporters. Turns his back on America. Loser. Infuriating to the nth degree” - “Its about time! Go take care of your family. Now he can go back to being an ex-Senator and maybe even get a job. His resume rivals Obummer’s for a dearth of experience.” - “Well SHlT. Looks like we have only one choice. Romney AKA Oblamo Lite.” - “I wish the candidates had spent ALL their time attacking the enemies of freedom, instead of the other American candidates. It boils down to: are you an AMERICAN, or a democrat?” - “Now we can get on with the task of CRUSHING the son_of_a_bitch_Õbama out of existence..!” - “Even I, an atheist, will say ‘amen’ to this news! Mr. and Mrs. Santorum, you should have aborted that fetus when you knew of her illness rather than bring her into this world for a life of suffering. Shame on both of you!” Is this the level of American politics and online discourse in 2012? None of it is surprising, except perhaps that these are all alleged conservatives tearing each other apart. Many commentators have questioned who, if anyone, could somehow satisfy all Republicans (and on the flip side, what Democrat would satisfy all Democrats)? Even the supposedly saintly Ronald Reagan would probably fail the litmus test. The campaign for the Republican nomination was perhaps the nastiest ever, fuelled by a rabid and anonymous blogging base who can say whatever they like, backed by the American constitutional first amendment, and by official media rhetoric out of all broadcasters turning democracy into a war/battle/fight/etc. If you hype up political discourse into a level of hyper aggression, then it’s easy to see how people can suggest an innocent three-year-old girl should have been aborted before she was born. The hatred of anyone who disagrees with you - and brewed with anonymity-protected nastiness - has corrupted the entire democratic process as much as money. The number of reasonable and level-headed Americans far outnumber the online idiots who spout such bile. But the reasonable people have jobs and don’t live on the internet, so we don’t hear from them. And so the result is a media world where politics is defined by how vitriolic you can get. Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and the rest of the current and previous Republican candidates have helped wage a campaign that must surely be an embarrassment to “right thinking” Americans. The fight with Obama will get even worse, and you really have to fear for the decent moral fabric of a society when “you should have aborted that fetus” is the level of discourse. What kind of country will President Obama or President Romney be left with after November?