Cast aside whom you want to win the presidential election in November and take a long hard look at who will win the election.
Following the 2010 Congressional election domination by the Republicans it seemed all but likely that the trend would continue over the next few yeas and Obama would likely be defeated.
Following the brief, and unlikely, front-runner statuses held by Bachman, the "Cain train" and Perry throughout the summer and the fall months, it eventually seemed apparent that Mitt Romney would be the easy GOP nomination.
A party whose single goal was to remove Obama from office hinged upon a party unified behind a single candidate.
The start of the nominating process has proven to be far from unified and quite disjointed. Santorum and Gingrich each have a win under their belts and Romney has two.
To further confuse the GOP electorate, the perceived establishment front-runner Romney has failed to attract the support of any of the previous candidates from this year's race, save Jon Huntsman. Gingrich has found himself earning the endorsements of both one time polling leaders Herman Cain and Rick Perry.
The current four way race (though Santorum will inevitably drop out) will fracture the GOP. Gingrich has mentioned that he will stay in the race all the way up until the GOP convention in the late summer. Ron Paul has made it clear that regardless of whether he can win or not, he will stay in the race as the single principled candidate.
Romney — who has been campaigning for the last six years — believes that he is entitled to the nomination and will not back down. The inevitably drawn out and verbally violent next few months will leave the GOP black and blue.
The GOP candidate attacks on one another even undermine certain economic values of the GOP that were thought to be at the heart of the party. Romney, once seen as a astute businessman is now questioned and his motives are challenged. As the GOP attacks grow, the Democrats quietly smile as their stockpiles of discrediting statements and quotes made by the GOP continues to grow. How is a base supposed to rally around someone when they have been mobilized against each other?
The internal GOP war not only costs the eventual nominee a ton of votes and millions of dollars, but also allows Obama to save and continue to fundraise with little expense.
Congresses approval rating is polling around 11 percent. The American people are quite clearly fed up with partisan politics and the inability for civility. It is a frightening world when a party with the mandate to replace the current president finds itself unable to cooperate and unite together to achieve this task.
Unless something happens quickly and with a unified backing throughout the party, the GOP will inevitably end up shooting itself in the foot and limping into the general election.
Whether you believe that Obama deserves a second term or not, the GOP is not leaving the country with much of an option.
— Kirkpatrick is a junior from Overland Park, Kansas majoring in political science. Burns is a junior from West Lafayette majoring in political science.
opinion@thedepauw.com