Senior Lecturer Richard Reeves.

Truthdig ran an op-ed by USC Annenberg journalism professor Richard Reeves on the "Republican circus" that has come out of the search for Obama's opponent next year. Reeves states the problem with the Republican party is there are two of them. "There are two Republican parties these days, and they seem to be about the same size—and they hate each other," Reeves wrote. "If there were one party, they could settle on a candidate (probably Mitt Romney) and go about the business of trying to defeat President Obama next year." Romney is the front-runner, according to Reeves, even though the tea party dislikes him and he is the only potential candidate who is not part of their team. "Romney’s people now compare the Republican race to the NCAA basketball tournament. This contest has, they say, two brackets instead of four and Romney is the only candidate in his bracket," Reeves stated. Reeves thinks Gov. Rick Perry will be the candidate if Romney does not get it, but his unstable performances in debates has some supporters worried. As for the other Republicans in the race: Chris Christie was never going to bring the two Republican parties together because he lacks experience. Sarah Palin is out. Rep. Michele Bachmann has lost her spark. Herman Cain will be back. Rep. Ron Paul "is basically a tea party within the tea party," which makes him almost as alone as Romney. Jon Huntsman "is running for 2016." And people have already forgotten about Rick Santorum. "History is going to judge the tea party as a rule-or-ruin operation of well-meaning amateurs who crippled the Republican Party by basically trying to extend the life of an old and older America of white Christians," Reeves concluded. "They can’t win because that America is slowly dying off, and a new America, diverse and more complex, is emerging while we watch the circus." Read the article here.