Kasich Campaign Press Release - USA Today—Montel Williams Op-Ed: Kasich Has Been a Voice of Sanity

Note: "He's the one nominee who can beat Hillary Clinton."

By Montel Williams

In a campaign season of bigotry and puffery, John Kasich has been a voice of sanity.

I left the Republican Party in the early 1990s to become an independent. But I'm now excited about the GOP for the first time since then – and it's because Ohio Gov. John Kasich is running for president.

If there's one thing 22 years in the military taught me, it's that we need an adult in the White House. Someone who'll stand up to our enemies abroad. Someone who is responsible enough to command the world's most powerful military. Someone who'll rise above the din of toxicity infecting our national dialogue and unite our bitterly divided public. Someone who can work with both parties while remaining true to his core beliefs. That adult is Kasich.

The party is in trouble. Without reaching out to a wider and more diverse pool of voters, the GOP will likely lose in November. That's not speculation. It's a fact – one that played out in the 2012 election, and one the GOP acknowledged afterward in a report on how to fix the problem.

So much for that. Instead of a new message of unity and inclusion, we've gotten division and antagonism. We've gotten Donald Trump's bigoted rhetoric against Latinos and patriotic Muslim Americans. We've had little focus on issues important to African Americans, like lifting communities out of poverty, or criminal justice reform, which everyone from the Koch brothers to Bernie Sanders agrees must be addressed. This Republican primary campaign, in my view, has been an embarrassment. It's led me to wonder if America's best days are behind it. It's time for the GOP base to have a reckoning with reality. Bigotry in the form of scapegoating and puffery are not a platform.

Fortunately, Kasich has been a voice of sanity. He's focused on his record in Congress and as governor, and it's an impressive one. Back in the 1990's, Kasich and his Republican colleagues in the House made smart policy compromises with President Clinton. Compromise. I know that word is anathema to Ted Cruz, but it led to prosperity, massive surpluses and a balanced budget. Last time I checked, those are in line with conservative principles.

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Read the rest of the op-ed here.

Montel Williams is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who served in the Marine Corps and the Navy. He hosted the Emmy Award winning Montel Williams Show from 1991 to 2008.