At this moment, Mike Huckabee is generating a lot of buzz. He’s polling high in Iowa (so high, his people are working hard to lower expectations) and getting lots of attention.

 He’s seems to me to be a very good man and a excellent campaigner. So, whenever I start to ponder rooting for him, here’s the question lurking in the back of my thoughts:

Isn’t Mike Huckabee just George W. Bush with the ability to talk? And if so, is that really what I want?

Here are the parallels.

Southern Governor

Strong Evangelical Christian

Strong Social/Cultural Conservative but. . . 

Not a true-believer-conservative on markets, taxes, or limited government.

Doesn’t “get” our deep concerns about illegal immigration (at all) and implies we’re being hard-hearted, selfish and generally unChristian for having them.

Bridge-builder accustomed to using charm and integrity to work with moderate Dems to get things done at the state level (and therefore utterly unprepared for the vicious partisan polarization of Washington.)

That was GWB. How is this not also Governor Huckabee? What am i missing?

A while back I fessed up to suffering from a raging case of Bush Fatigue. I voted for someone else in the Republican primary in 2000. And if the President could run for a third term, I would almost certainly be backing a more conservative primary challenger now.

So again, I’m asking myself. . . Is Brother Huckabee, my fellow believer, also my candidate?

Update: The main headline on Drudge right now–which is about the strong Huckabee numbers–is “Huckaboom.” A word that, when I say it in my head, is reflexively followed by the word, “shucka-lucka-lucka.”