Imagine a Gingrich-Obama Race in the General Election

It could very well be a contest between Newt Gingrich and Barack Obama next year. Gingrich rises in GOP favor while Obama continues appeal to his steadfast base. A close race it would be, indeed.

Why Gingrich?

New Hampshire Union Leader endorsed Gingrich today, boosting his already rising position in GOP polls. Candidates seek this endorsement as a coveted sign of favor in the early primary state.

Editors at the Union Leader explained their favorites as Gingrich and Rick Perry and compared them to Romney. "Romney's a guy who wants to be liked, a politician who wants to be liked. Gingrich is a politician who wants to be respected" as described in The Hill.

"I'm not sure precisely what we get out of a President Romney," the endorsing editors explained further. In the process of electioneering, Romney comes off as uncertain as to what's behind the curtain. Does a skilled, savvy campaigner make a skilled, savvy president?

Why Obama?

Barack Obama, of course, will be on the ticket and posing a challenge to whomever the GOP puts up. His base of support is solid . That's why. But why?

Obama's keeps the unwavering support of African Americans. In 2008, 95 percent of black voters voted for him. Not much change will be expected from that in 2012 as 91 percent of current black voters support him still, according to The Washington Post.

Furthermore, this base of support makes no connection between Obama and the failing economy. There's a belief out there that says he's doing his best while capitalists scourge the country to poverty. A blind eye is cast in Obama's direction when the likes of Solyndra receive millions in taxpayer dollars only to waste it away.

Facts don't matter when minds are made up. When minds are made up, a vote doesn't change.

Why a close race?

According to Real Clear Politics polling data, an Obama-Gingrich race right now would yield 49.1 percent for Obama and 43.2 percent for Gingrich. The nearly 6 percent difference closed down from a 13 percent difference earlier this year. And, the gap narrowed in only the last month. If Gingrich started slowly, he's ramping up fast now.

Some attribute the rising regard for Gingrich as the realization of polarized leadership concepts. With Obama, voters will get more of the same, only more: more tax, more spending, more debt, and the distribution of wealth earned by the accomplished. With Gingrich, accomplishment will be rewarded by keeping it, not taxing it, not spending it, not sending it off to government to serve undeserving others. The election will be won by those who produce rather than receive.

But maybe not, because the country will get what it votes for, what it desires, perhaps what it deserves. We have become a country of whiners and gimme gimme-ers. We have become an entitled populace, destined to take its fair share from those who earned their fair share. It is a conflict of concepts represented by the two who run in 2012.

He who wins next year represents who we are as Americans now or the Americans we want to be again.