Problems with Mitt Romney

I had mentioned this earlier, but when we were coming back from Mexico, we were watching the Republican candidates debate and catching up on the news, and I noted that they seemed to be dropping out in the order of least intelligent/craziest to smarter/saner. The only exception was Huntsman, because I felt like he was relatively smart and sane, but I guess he just wasn’t getting enough traction. At that time, it was pretty easy to predict that it would end up being Romney, and it fact, that’s how it turned out.

Okay, I thought it was predictable. I don’t remember what people were saying at the time, because I already knew there was no one that I would vote for on that side. Romney won the nomination because he was the least crazy Republican candidate, and although things are getting uglier all the time in politics, most people don’t like voting for lunatics.

Now, there is clearly a lot to say about why the current GOP seems to do such a good job of attracting lunatics, and how this is politically detrimental, but now I want to talk about this relatively sane man who is really not that well-liked. Most people are not thrilled that this is their candidate.

I have mixed feelings on it. On the one hand, having such a marvelously incompetent competitor makes me feel better about President Obama’s chances, so in that way he’s kind of a gift. On the other hand, he is drawing a lot of attention to the Church, and it has tended to be negative, and more on that later.

So, what is Romney’s problem? There are obviously things he can do well, and just for the fact that he has closed so many business deals, I have to assume he has a certain amount of cleverness and charm, but he just ends up so consistently off-base, he alienates people right and left. One reason he seemed relatively sane is that he does not seem married to the hard-core Republican policies, but he changes sides and positions so easily that you can’t feel any trust. Maybe he’s not totally committed to gutting Medicare, but he’s certainly not committed to saving it, so if other people are committed to gutting it, and they are people he will listen to, on with the disemboweling!

I have some thoughts about where this comes from. I remember reading one column (I think it was David Brooks), suggesting that the issue was coming of age in a service-based economy rather than manufacturing or digital, where Romney needed to adapt into the ultimate people pleaser. I reject this, if for no other reason than that if that was the case, he should be much better at pleasing people than he is.

Another theory (and this was from Rolling Stone) was that because Romney saw his father’s political career end because of his stand on Vietnam, even though people would later agree with him, he learned that integrity and authenticity is the sure path to distraction, and left those behind. I hope that’s not the case, because that really would have been a horrible lesson, and surely not the one his father wanted him to learn.

The impression I have gotten is that he is just so sure that he is right that he doesn’t worry about the details. Of course he should win the election, so he can say what needs to be said to do so. I may be wrong, but that’s what I have felt. It’s a dangerous attitude anyway, but there does seem to be a general air of specialness that can easily accompany great wealth.

There was one story going around that may illustrate the point. It was used as an example of how good and caring a man he was. A colleague’s daughter was missing, and they shut everything down to form search parties and find her. It’s like the family Ryan mentioned, where Romney took the Christmas presents. Okay, great, I know about these people, and I care, and so I will do something, because I have a good heart. Except, that there are lots of people with similar problems that you don’t know, and your policies leave them screwed.

It’s nice to locate the one girl, or help the one family, but having adequate police and medical, and a healthy economic model that does not lead to an ever-widening gulf between the richest and the poorest actually ends up doing more good. It’s more practical. And it’s more along the lines what elected officials should actually do.

We’re going to explore this a little more tomorrow, but first some other related fun.

I have noticed a drop-off in magic underwear jokes since I posted. That could just be the people I follow, so I actually went back and searched the Twitter feed on that term, and there was a sharp drop-off after the 22^nd, which is when I posted. I don’t think I can take credit for that, but if I helped, I’m glad. I have been seeing more about baptism for the dead, so I’m going to link to my post on that, and from last Monday, and my special post on the possibility of Mitt Romney being the Anti-Christ all at the bottom.

The most pertinent one may be the last one. Obviously it is somewhat humorous, based on the inclusion of the Oprah references (though I am more against “The Secret” now than when I wrote it, and I will be blogging against self-help/positive thinking books in the future). However, if “the Beast” does turn out to be an American president, it would make sense if it was one affiliated with the religious right, and who looked pious. Honestly, Huckaby and Santorum have been scarier than Romney for religiosity (Romney may just be letting Beck say the crazy things for him).

http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2012/10/why-its-not-cool-to-joke-about-magic.html

http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2012/03/you-do-what-with-dead.html

http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2008/07/procrastinators-lament-3315.html