The Millennial View: Republicans don’t like Kasich because he sounds like Obama

Pundits have puzzled over why John Kasich — popular Ohio governor, former congressman and presidential candidate untempted by name-calling and hand-size comparisons — has gained so little traction among the Republican base.

Kasich spoke of uniting rather than dividing, of including rather than excluding, of the importance of listening to and learning from those we disagree with, and of reconciling with our ideological enemies in service to the greater good.

[...] in response to a thorny question about the battle between the tech community and law enforcement over encryption, he said that rather than propose a solution himself, he’d force the two sides to hammer out a compromise.

“I’d lock them in a room and they’d never come out until they had a solution,” he declared, noting that similar tactics had succeeded in his home state.

In other words, Kasich plans to show leadership by inspiring, stepping back and letting others hug it out.

“What I think is most important is that we recognize that to solve the key problems that we’re facing, if we’re going to solve two wars, the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, if we can — if we’re going to focus on lifting wages that have declined over the last eight years and create jobs here in America, then Democrats, independents and Republicans, we’re going to have to be able to work together,” then-Sen.

[...] while Obama had some high-profile mediator in chief moments early on (remember the “beer summit”?), he ultimately failed to knit together the “two Americas,” which have only splintered further during his tenure.

When a January Monmouth University poll asked what causes more problems in the federal government, elected officials who are not willing to stand up for their principles or elected officials who are not willing to compromise, 54 percent of Republicans named abandoned principles, and just 36 percent named unwillingness to compromise.

[...] the appeal of Donald Trump’s promises to cede no ground, along with his exploitation of racial, ethnic, religious and ideological fault lines.

[...] for Ted Cruz’s anthem celebrating political division: “I don’t think what Washington needs is more compromise, I think what Washington needs is more common sense and more principle.”