I am amazed at how, every four years, many otherwise sane human beings want to become president of the United States. Harry Truman, our 33rd president, is reputed as having said: "If you want a friend in Washington, buy a dog."

Usually, a president is inaugurated with great pomp and jubilant celebrations followed by a brief "honeymoon" period. After the honeymoon ends, however, he pleases practically no one and disappoints nearly everyone. Why anyone would wish that upon himself or herself is beyond me.

Minus a few exceptions, Ronald Reagan being one who comes to mind, the men who have occupied the Oval Office have aged at a far faster rate than their peers in Congress or the Supreme Court.

With that understood, I gleefully celebrated Rick Santorum's three-state win. Finally, a real Republican conservative - someone who understands and loves the Constitution -has taken Mitt Romney to the woodshed. Hopefully, it will happen many more times.

Like us on Facebook

Romney may be, as he touts himself, "a conservative businessman." But he's not even close to being a conservative politician. He was governor of Massachusetts, the state right next door to my home state of Rhode Island; I know their politics quite well. The Bay State is arguably the most liberal state in the nation.

The fine people of the Commonwealth repeatedly elected Ted Kennedy as one of their two senators. Few seemed to care about his cowardly abandoning of a drowning Mary Jo Kopechne, as she clawed for an escape from a vehicle he had driven into the water. His fellow citizens also gave little mind to his extreme, leftist views.

In 1972, Richard Nixon ran against George McGovern for our nation's highest office. George, South Dakota's senior senator, won only one state and the District of Columbia. Nixon carried the other 49. Which state went McGovern's way? It wasn't South Dakota, or California, or even New York. When the American peoples' votes were tallied, Massachusetts was the only blue state on the national map.

Romney, as governor of Massachusetts, was pro-same sex marriage, pro-choice, and anti-gun. He provided the state with our nation's first universal health care law, which, by the way, appears to be out of control. In May, Fox's "The O'Reilly Factor" reported Massachusetts' healthcare costs had grown 600 percent between 2007 and 2010.

The state is drowning in debt. Our bankrupt-bound national economy does not need to follow suit.

Now, of course, that he is running for the presidency as a Republican, Romney says he has changed his mind on those issues. He has certainly changed his message, but I doubt that he has changed his mind. He is simply doing what Bill Clinton did so well: reads the polls and adjusts.

What the Constitution has to say on a matter, or what his personal convictions may be, are irrelevant.

Santorum's three victories have restored my faith in the intelligence of Republican voters, at least in those living in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri.

Let's see if other GOP folks follow suit.

Walt Osterman is the author of "Not Home Yet: A Tale Concerning Israel's Rebirth." He served in Vietnam and is a Bronze Star recipient. He lives in Wyoming.

To contact the editor, e-mail: