When Mitt Romney gave his speech on religion in American life Thursday in College Station, Texas, he brought everything but the presidential seal. Introduced by George Herbert Walker Bush, the last popular Republican president, he stood in front of a row of American flags and faced a bank of cameras worthy of a celebrity murder trial. Leading up to the address, his campaign had released pictures of his arduous speechwriting process, exactly as the White House does before the real president gives the State of the Union address.
What Dickerson doesn't grasp is that "looking like a president" was eighty percent of what Mitt Romney was trying to get out of the speech. Romney's argument for the Republican nomination boils down to urging Republicans to view Romney as the strongest candidate because he's not corrupt like Giuliani, not lazy like Thompson, not stupid enough to free a dangerous rapist like Huckabee, and not principled enough to buck the right like McCain. Besides, with his hair, smile, and fitness, Romney just looks like a Republican candidate for president. So forget that Mormon stuff and learn to appreciate flip-flopping. Romney is selling himself as the best looking Republican out there.
This blog dumps on Romney a lot and he's back in fifth place in the national polls. But Romney has a fighting chance to win the Republican nomination and he'd have to be considered the favorite if the battle goes to the convention.
If not, Romney has a future in front of the camera. Maybe he could do Planned Parenthood commercials.
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Romney also made a good go at looking gubenatorial here in Massachusetts. He wasn't even a resident of the state when he ran. The most annoying thing was he didn't so much win the 2002election as the Democratic candidate, Shannon O'Brien, lost it by offending Catholics in the state with her pro-choice views. Once in office, he had an enormous budget deficit left by the previous Republican governor, which he attempted to fix by raising everything but income taxes. By the end of his term, he had to deal with the gay marriage issue; the compromise he supported, which denied marriage licenses to out of state couples, probably violates the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution, but nobody has challenged it yet. He also supported the flawed state health care reform, which requires residents to have insurance by 2008 or else face a tax penalty. Sounds like he's ready to inherit GWB's mantle.
Hi CBL. Good to hear from you. Indeed, Romney is to inherit the Bush mantle, but I think it's more likely that he'll wear it on prime time television than in the White House. At least I hope so.
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