I just finished listening to the South Carolina Republican debate again. Sorry, folks, I don’t have my favorite yet. Each one of them has problems that I need to consider, so no Herminating for me quite yet. However, where my top priority is concerned – namely, the economy – Cain, Paul, and Johnson have thus far piqued my interest greatly.

Yet, if there was anything in the debate that caught my interest the most, it was Gary Johnson’s assertion that he’d bring a cost-benefit analysis style to just about everything, as he did in New Mexico. While I think it’s a fantastic concept, in that it sounds like he’d consider all the options and choose what appears to be best, it’s one that has problems.

The problem is that CBAs seem like they take time to produce a solution. While that may work with fiscal issues, or even some foreign policy issues, I’m not so sure it’s a great governing strategy when it comes to national security. Obviously, Johnson isn’t the national security candidate, but I think that if he were elected, it won’t take long before he’s forced to make a decision on something. If someone is determined to attack the country, there isn’t time to sit down and crunch numbers. That’s the time where you have to reach into your gut and make a quick call.

Too often, deciding what brings the most return with the least amount of cost gets us into trouble. That is why Osama bin Laden wasn’t killed when Clinton was president, and that’s at least partly why I think Obama takes so long to decide on issues like troop levels in Afghanistan.

If Johnson isn’t ready to make a quick decision when that 3 AM call comes, then maybe he should step back and allow somebody to run who will.