I ran across a nice analysis of the Newt by Michael Gerson in the Washington Post. Gerson says that the Newt excels at diagnosis of problems in the U.S., but “regularly gets into trouble when moving from analysis to prescription.” Here are some highlights:
So Gingrich diagnoses the genuine threat of terrorism and radical Islam. Then he calls for a federal law against sharia, which would address a nonexistent crisis while stigmatizing an entire faith.
He makes a strong case for early work experience in low-income communities. Then he goes further to dismiss child labor laws as “truly stupid” and urges the employment of students as assistant janitors.
Gingrich acknowledges the problem of climate change — or at least he once did. But he proposed to combat it through geoengineering — the risky manipulation of the planet’s environment by pumping nitrogen into the oceans or deflecting the sun’s rays with vast mirrors.