Charen: Daniels Knows How To Solve Problems

By Mona Charen In Indianapolis For Real Clear Politics ~ "If I could wave a magic wand and change just one thing, it would be to guarantee that every American child could grow up in a two-parent home until the age of 18. That would solve maybe three-quarters of our problems."

So said Indiana governor and possible presidential candidate Mitch Daniels. The words may surprise those who know only that Daniels has proposed a "truce" on social issues for the 2012 campaign.

Daniels, whose pro-life and pro-family credentials could not be more solid, was simply attempting to sketch the nature of the fiscal and economic catastrophe that he says is coming, and that, for now, must take priority.

"The debt is a devastating enemy. The threat from the Soviet Union may have been more severe -- if you go broke, you're still alive -- but it was also less likely." National bankruptcy, on the other hand, "is a mathematical certainty" if we don't change course ... and fast.

"The America that we have known is profoundly threatened."

It's because the stakes are so high that Daniels has let himself be cajoled into considering a presidential run himself -- though with reluctance -- and I'll come back to that in a moment.

A parade of political professionals, pundits, and scribblers (including me) has trouped to Indianapolis because the modest, humorous, and mild-mannered Daniels may well be the best chief executive in American government.

Read the rest of this column at www.realclearpolitics.com.

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